TWO  •  UNPUBLISHED  •  ESSAYS 

THE 'CHARACTER  OF 
SOCRATES 

THE  PRESENT  STATE 
OF  ETHICAL 
PHILOSOPHY 

BY 

RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE 


MDCCCXC-Vl 

LAMSON  •  WOLFFE  •  D  •  CO 

BOSTON  O  NEW-YORK 


Copyright,  1895, 
By  Lamson,  Wolffe,  &  Co. 


All  rights  reserved 


SRLF 
URL 


Introduction 

THE  name  of  James  Bowdoin  is  first  on  that  cata- 
logue  preserved  by  John  Lovell  of  pupils  of  the 
Boston  Latin  School,  which  is  the  basis  of  its  printed  cata 
logue.  He  graduated  at  Cambridge  in  1 745,  and,  in  1783, 
the  college  made  him  a  Doctor  of  Laws.  He  was  a  fellow 
of  the  college,  president  of  the  American  Academy,  and 
Governor  of  Massachusetts  in  1788.  He  was  a  leading 
member  of  the  convention  which  adopted  the  Federal 
Constitution  ;  he  was  president  of  the  convention  of 
1780,  which  made  the  Constitution  of  Massachusetts. 
Very  likely  it  was  he  who  gave  Harvard  College  its  new 
name  of  "the  University  at  Cambridge,"  and  it  is  per 
haps  a  pity  that  that  name  has  not  been  preserved  by  his 
successors. 

When  he  died,  in  1790,  he  left  in  his  will  a  bequest, 
"to  my  Alma  Mater,  the  University  at  Cambridge," 
of  some  four  hundred  pounds,  to  be  placed  at  interest 
in  good  security,  "  and  the  interest  thereof  annually 
applied  in  the  way  of  premiums  for  the  advancement  of 
useful  and  polite  literature  in  the  residents,  as  well  grad 
uates  as  undergraduates,  of  the  university,  the  premiums 
to  be  paid  in  such  way  and  manner  as  shall  be  best 
adapted  to  excite  a  spirit  of  emulation  among  such  resi 
dents  ;  the  performances  entitled  to  such  premiums  to  be 


Introduction 


read  in  public  by  their  respective  authors,  who  shall 
deliver  a  fair  copy  of  the  same,  to  be  lodged  in  the 
library,  such  copies  to  be  written  on  quarto  paper  of 
the  same  size,  that  such  of  them  as  shall  merit  it  may 
be  bound  together  in  handsome  volumes  and  lodged  in 
the  library." 

At  some  period  not  very  long  after  Governor  Bow- 
doin's  death,  the  arrangements  were  made,  substantially 
as  they  are  still  carried  on,  for  the  Bowdoin  prize  disser 
tations,  as  they  are  called  at  Cambridge.  An  announce 
ment  is  made  annually  that  dissertations  will  be  received, 
from  resident  graduates  and  from  undergraduates,  in 
competition  for  the  prizes  offered.  Several  subjects  are 
assigned,  from  which  the  competitors  may  select  such 
as  they  prefer  to  handle  ;  but  no  competitor  may  write 
on  any  subject  except  one  of  these.  The  income  of  the 
fund  has  not  been  all  used  in  every  year  for  the  prizes 
offered,  and  it  has  thus  been  enlarged  by  the  appropria 
tion  of  unused  interest  to  the  increase  of  the  principal, 
till  it  stands  on  the  treasurer's  account  at  about  fourteen 
thousand  dollars.  At  the  time  of  Bowdoin' s  death,  the 
pound  of  which  he  spoke  was  worth  $3.33  ;  the  fund  is 
therefore  now  nearly  ten  times  what  it  was  then. 

At  present,  nine  prizes  are  offered  from  this  founda 
tion.  They  may  be  as  much  as  one  hundred  dollars  ; 
they  will  not  be  less  than  fifty  dollars.  They  are  offered 
for  translations  into  Greek  or  Latin,  for  compositions  in 


Introduction 


Greek  or  Latin,  and  for  English  essays.  Some  of  the 
subjects  in  English  essays  are  historical,  some  are  what 
is  now  called  philosophical,  and  some  are  scientific. 
The  dissertations  must  not  contain  more  than  ten  thou 
sand  words,  and  the  authors  of  successful  dissertations 
are  invited  to  read  them  in  public,  at  a  place  and  time 
to  be  designated  by  the  dean. 

In  Mr.  Emerson's  day,  the  arrangement  was  sub 
stantially  the  same,  but  the  first  prizes  were  then  only 
fifty  dollars,  and  the  second  prizes  thirty.  The  tradi 
tion  is  that  a  gold  medal  was  originally  offered,  and  it 
was  offered  at  that  time  ;  but  for  many,  many  years  no 
candidate  ever  asked  for  the  medal.  The  winners  of 
prizes  were  generally  young  men  who  knew  how  to  use 
their  money  ;  and  when,  many  years  after  Mr.  Emer 
son,  a  successful  competitor  asked  for  his  gold  medal,  it 
proved  that  the  college  had  no  die  for  any  such  medal, 
and  no  such  offer  has  since  been  made. 

Fortunately  for  us,  among  the  subjects  given  in  the 
year  1820  was  "The  Character  of  Socrates."  Mr. 
Emerson  was  at  this  time  seventeen  years  old.  Know 
ing  him  as  we  know  him  now,  one  is  not  surprised  that 
he  chose  this  subject.  His  dissertation,  printed  from 
the  copy  preserved  in  the  college  library,  is  in  the 
reader's  hands.  The  next  year,  fortunately  again, 
there  was  among  the  subjects  "  The  Present  State  of 
Ethical  Philosophy."  Once  more  Mr.  Emerson  was 


Introduction 


successful  in  the  competition,  and  the  second  of  these 
curious  and  valuable  papers  exists,  therefore,  in  the  col 
lection  at  Cambridge,  which  also  is  reprinted  here. 

Whoever  reads  these  essays  now,  if  he  be  at  all 
familiar  with  the  habit  of  writing,  in  the  first  half  of  the 
century,  of  men  who  were  dealing  with  such  subjects, 
will  see  that  the  boy  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  years  of 
age  wrote  what  must  have  surprised  and  sometimes  an 
noyed  the  sort  of  men  who  would  be  apt  to  be  named 
upon  a  committee  of  award.  In  the  present  instance, 
the  committees  were  the  corporation  of  the  college,  con 
sisting  of  President  Kirkland,  John  Davis,  Dr.  William 
Ellery  Channing,  John  Lowell,  John  Phillips,  William 
Prescott,  and  Dr.  Eliphalet  Porter.  Governor  Gore 
assisted  in  the  award  of  1820.  It  would  be  hard  to 
make  a  better  committee. 

It  will  be  an  encouragement  to  many  a  young  man, 
in  his  early  tussles  of  competition,  if  he  be  reminded 
that  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  at  that  time  could  not,  or 
did  not,  write  an  essay  that  was  thought  worthy  of  a  first 
prize.  It  is  pathetic  to  think  that  the  judges  were  not 
willing  to  award  the  first  prize  to  any  of  the  papers 
which  were  offered  in  the  competition. 

But  to  us  who  read  after  the  event,  who  read  after 
Mr.  Emerson  has  changed  the  whole  philosophy  of  that 
time,  the  opportunity  to  read  what  the  "  Yankee  Plato" 
said,  when  he  was  a  boy,  of  the  life  of  Socrates  is  most 


Introduction 

fortunate.  I  cannot  but  think  that,  if  we  had  not  his 
name,  if  this  manuscript  had  struggled  through  anony 
mously  and  were  printed  to-day,  we  should  have  sense 
enough,  wit  enough,  and  insight  enough  to  recognize 
the  author. 

The  reader  will  be  curious  to  compare  the  paper  with 
the  sketch  of  the  life  of  Socrates  in  the  essay  on  Plato 
in  "Representative  Men."  The  date  of  the  publica 
tion  of  the  essay  is  1876,  but,  probably,  much  of  it  had 
been  put  on  paper  before  that  time. 

In  reading  the  two  papers,  I  have  been  led  to  ask  my 
self  whether  the  careful  study  which,  for  the  preparation 
of  the  first,  he  gave  to  the  life  of  Socrates,  did  not  do 
something  in  the  direction  of  the  studies  of  his  junior 
and  senior  years,  and  so  if  it  did  not  lead  up  to  the  sec 
ond  paper.  But  such  speculations  are  hardly  more  than 
fanciful.  It  is  he  who  said,  when  he  was  not  yet  thirty 
years  old,  "  Milton  does  not  love  moral  perfection  more 
than  I.  That  which  I  cannot  yet  declare  has  been  my 
angel  from  childhood  until  now."  Why  should  we  not 
expect  of  the  boy  who  was  fast  growing  into  such  a 
manhood,  that  he  should  write,  if  he  could,  on  the  posi 
tion  of  the  study  of  ethical  philosophy  in  his  time  ? 

The  condition  of  ethical  philosophy  in  1821  was  cer 
tainly  not  very  promising.  In  1837,  in  the  same  col 
lege,  I  had  given  to  me  for  my  study  Paley's  "  Moral 
Philosophy,"  in  which  I  was  taught  that  I  did  right  in 


Introduction 

the  hope  and  expectation  of  being  paid  in  heaven  for 
my  sacrifice.  Things  were  no  better  sixteen  years 
before. 

It  would  be  idle  to  anticipate  the  pleasure  with  which 
the  reader  will  follow  these  early  essays,  by  pointing  out 
some  striking  passages  in  which  the  early  promise  of  the 
man  may  be  observed.  It  is  a  pity  that  we  have  no 
contemporary  record  of  the  occasion  in  which  he  read 
these  essays  before  an  audience  of  undergraduates.  The 
will  required  that  the  essays  should  be  so  read.  At  the 
present  time,  they  are  read  "when  and  where  the  dean 
requests."  At  times,  there  has  been  a  certain  difficulty, 
I  believe,  in  finding  an  audience.  But  had  there  been 
any  spirit  of  prophecy  in  the  classes  which  graduated  in 
i8zo  and  i8zi,  there  would  have  been  no  doubt  but  that 
they  would  have  filled  the  modest  chapel  of  the  time  to 
hear  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  lecture  on  Socrates  or  on 
ethical  philosophy. 

EDWARD  E.  HALE. 


NOTE. — Since  this  introduction  was  in  type,  Mr.  Josiah  P. 
Quincy  has  shown  to  me  the  original  gold  medal  which  his  father 
received  as  a  first  prize  when  Mr.  Emerson  took  a  second.  The 
medal  bears  the  head  of  Bowdoin  on  the  obverse.  This  shows 
that  the  die  has  been  lost  in  recent  times,  if  the  traditions  above 
referred  to  were  well  founded. 


The  Character  of  Socrates 


The   Character  of  Socrates 

[A  Bowdoin  Prize  Dissertation  of  i8zo] 

"  Guide  my  way 

Through  fair  Lyceum's  walk,  the  green  retreats 
Of  Academus,  and  the  thymy  vale 
Where,  oft  enchanted  with  Socratic  sounds, 
Ilissus  pure  devolved  his  tuneful  stream 
In  gentler  murmurs.      From  the  blooming  store 
Of  these  auspicious  fields,  may  I  unblamed 
Transplant  some  living  blossoms  to  adorn 
My  native  clime." 

THE  philosophy  of  the  human  mind  has  of 
late  years  commanded  an  unusual  degree  of 
attention  from  the  curious  and  the  learned.  The 
increasing  notice  which  it  obtains  is  owing 
much  to  the  genius  of  those  men  who  have  raised 
themselves  with  the  science  to  general  regard, 
but  chiefly,  as  its  patrons  contend,  to  the  uncon 
trolled  progress  of  human  improvement.  The 
zeal  of  its  advocates,  however,  in  other  respects 
commendable,  has  sinned  in  one  particular, — they 
have  laid  a  little  too  much  self-complacent  stress^ 


The  Character  of  Socrates 


on  the  merit  and  success  of  their  own  unselfish 
exertions,  and  in  their  first  contempt  of  the  absurd 
and  trifling  speculations  of  former  metaphysicians, 
appear  to  have  confounded  sophists  and  true  phil 
osophers,  and  to  have  been  disdainful  of  some 
who  have  enlightened  the  world  and  marked  out 
a  path  for  future  advancement. 

Indeed,  the  giant  strength  of  modern  improve 
ment  is  more  indebted  to  the  early  wisdom  of 
Thales  and  Socrates  and  Plato  than  is  generally 
allowed,  or  perhaps  than  modern  philosophers 
have  been  well  aware. 

This  supposition  is  strongly  confirmed  by  a 
consideration  of  the  character  of  Socrates,  which, 
in  every  view,  is  uncommon  and  admirable.  To 
one  who  should  read  his  life  as  recorded  by 
Xenophon  and  Plato  without  previous  knowl 
edge  of  the  man,  the  extraordinary  character  and 
circumstances  of  his  biography  would  appear 
incredible.  It  would  seem  that  antiquity  had 
endeavored  to  fable  forth  a  being  clothed  with 
all  the  perfection  which  the  purest  and  brightest 
imagination  could  conceive  or  combine,  bestow- 


The  Character  of  Socrates 


ing  upon  the  piece  only  so  much  of  mortality  as 
to  make  it  tangible  and  imitable.  Even  in  this 
imaginary  view  of  the  character,  we  have  been 
inclined  to  wonder  that  men,  without  a  revelation, 
by  the  light  of  reason  only,  should  set  forth  a 
model  of  moral  perfection  which  the  wise  of  any 
age  would  do  well  to  imitate.  And,  further,  it 
might  offer  a  subject  of  ingenious  speculation,  to 
mark  the  points  of  difference,  should  modern 
fancy,  with  all  its  superiority  of  philosophic  and 
theological  knowledge,  endeavor  to  create  a  sim 
ilar  paragon.  But  this  is  foreign  to  our  purpose. 
It  will  be  well,  in  reviewing  the  character  of 
Socrates,  to  mark  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  as 
the  moral  and  political  circumstances  of  the  times 
would  probably  exert  an  important  and  immediate 
influence  on  his  opinions  and  character.  The 
dark  ages  of  Greece,  from  the  settlement  of  the 
colonies  to  the  Trojan  War,  had  long  closed. 
The  young  republics  had  been  growing  in 
strength,  population,  and  territory,  digesting  their 
constitutions  and  building  up  their  name  and 
importance.  The  Persian  War,  that  hard  but 


The  Character  of  Socrates 


memorable  controversy  of  rage  and  spite,  con 
flicting  with  energetic  and  disciplined  independ 
ence,  had  shed  over  their  land  an  effulgence  of 
glory  which  richly  deserved  all  that  applause 
which  after  ages  have  bestowed.  It  was  a  stern 
trial  of  human  effort,  and  the  Greeks  might  be 
pardoned  if,  in  their  intercourse  with  less  glorious 
nations,  they  carried  the  record  of  their  long  tri 
umph  too  far  to  conciliate  national  jealousies. 
The  aggrandizement  of  Greece  which  followed 
this  memorable  war  was  the  zenith  of  its  powers 
and  splendor,  and  ushered  in  the  decay  and  fall 
of  the  political  fabric. 

The  age  of  Pericles  has  caused  Athens  to  be 
remembered  in  history.  At  no  time  during  her 
existence  were  the  arts  so  flourishing,  popular 
taste  and  feeling  so  exalted  and  refined,  or  her 
political  relations  so  extensive  and  respected. 
The  Athenian  people  were  happy  at  home,  rev 
erenced  abroad,  —  and  at  the  head  of  the  Grecian 
confederacy.  Their  commerce  was  lucrative, 
and  their  wars  few  and  honorable.  In  this  mild 
period  it  was  to  be  expected  that  literature  and 


The   Character  of  Socrates 


science  would  grow  up  vigorously  under  the  fos 
tering  patronage  of  taste  and  power.  The 
Olympian  games  awakened  the  emulation  of 
genius  and  produced  the  dramatic  efforts  of 
^Eschylus,  Sophocles,  Euripides,  and  Aristoph 
anes,  and  philosophy  came  down  from  heaven 
to  Anaxagoras,  Archelaus,  and  Socrates. 

Such  was  the  external  and  obvious  condition 
of  Athens,  —  apparently  prosperous,  but  a  con 
cealed  evil  began  to  display  specific  and  disastrous 
consequences.  The  sophists  had  acquired  the 
brightest  popularity  and  influence,  by  the  exhibi 
tion  of  those  superficial  accomplishments  whose 
novelty  captivated  the  minds  of  an  ingenious 
people,  among  whom  true  learning  was  yet  in 
its  infancy.  Learning  was  not  yet  loved  for  its 
own  sake.  It  was  prized  as  a  saleable  com 
modity.  The  sophists  bargained  their  literature, 
such  as  it  was,  for  a  price ;  and  this  price,  ever 
exorbitant,  was  yet  regulated  by  the  ability  of  the 
scholar. 

That  this  singular  order  of  men  should  pos 
sess  so  strong  an  influence  over  the  Athenian 


The   Character  of  Socrates 


public  argues  no  strange  or  unnatural  state  of 
society,  as  has  been  sometimes  represented  ;  it  is 
the  proper  and  natural  result  of  improvement  in 
a  money-making  community.  By  the  prosperity 
of  their  trading  interests  all  the  common  wants 
of  society  were  satisfied,  and  it  was  natural  that 
the  mind  should  next  urge  its  claim  to  cultivation, 
and  the  surplus  of  property  be  expended  for  the 
gratification  of  the  intellect.  This  has  been 
found  true  in  the  growth  of  all  nations,  —  that 
after  successful  trade,  literature  soon  throve  well, 
—  provided  the  human  mind  was  cramped  by  no 
disadvantages  of  climate  or  "  skyey  influences." 
The  Athenian  sophists  adapted  their  course  of 
pursuits  of  knowledge,  with  admirable  skill,  to  the 
taste  of  the  people.  They  first  approved  them 
selves  masters  of  athletic  exercises,  for  the  want 
of  which  no  superiority  of  intellect,  however 
consummate,  Would  compensate  in  the  Grecian 
republics.  They  then  applied  themselves  to  the 
cultivation  of  forensic  eloquence,  which  enabled 
them  to  discourse  volubly,  if  ignorantly,  on  any 
subject  and  on  any  occasion,  however  unexpected. 


The  Character  of  Socrates 


To  become  perfect  in  this  grand  art,  it  was 
necessary  to  acquire,  by  habit  and  diligence,  an 
imperturbable  self-possession  which  could  con 
front,  unabashed,  the  rudest  accident ;  and  more 
over,  a  flood  of  respondent  and  exclamatory 
phrases,  skilfully  constructed  to  meet  the  emer 
gencies  of  a  difficult  conversation.  After  this 
laudable  education  had  thus  far  accomplished  its 
aim,  the  young  sophist  became  partially  con 
versant  with  the  limited  learning  of  the  age  in  all 
its  subjects.  The  poets,  the  historians,  the  sages, 
the  writers  on  the  useful  arts,  each  and  all 
occupied  by  turns  his  glancing  observation.  And 
when  the  motley  composition  of  his  mind  was 
full,  it  only  remained  to  stamp  upon  his  character 
some  few  peculiarities,  —  to  make  him  what  the 
moderns  have  called  a  "  mannerist,"  —  and  his 
professional  education  was  considered  complete. 
When  the  sophists  made  themselves  known, 
they  assumed  a  sanctity  of  manners,  which  awed 
familiarity  and  very  conveniently  cloaked  their 
sinister  designs.  Pythagoras,  after  his  persever 
ing  exertions  for  the  attainment  of  knowledge, 


io  The  Character  of  Socrates 

after  his  varied  and  laborious  travels,  had  estab 
lished  a  romantic  school  at  Crotona  with  institu 
tions  resembling  free  masonry,  which  had  planted 
in  Greece  prepossessions  favorable  to  philosophy. 
The  sophists  availed  themselves  of  their  preju 
dices,  and  amused  the  crowds  who  gathered  at 
the  rumor  of  novelty,  with  riddles  and  defini 
tions,  with  gorgeous  theories  of  existence, — 
splendid  fables  and  presumptuous  professions. 
They  laid  claim  to  all  knowledge,  and  craftily 
continued  to  steal  the  respect  of  a  credulous 
populace,  and  to  enrich  themselves  by  pretending 
to  instruct  the  children  of  the  opulent.  When 
they  had  thus  fatally  secured  their  own  emolu 
ment,  they  rapidly  threw  off  the  assumed  rigidity 
of  their  morals,  and,  under  covert  of  a  sort  of 
perfumed  morality,  indulged  themselves  and  their 
followers  in  abominable  excesses,  degrading  the 
mind  and  debauching  virtue.  Unhappily  for 
Greece,  the  contaminating  vices  of  Asiatic  lux 
ury,  the  sumptuous  heritage  of  Persian  War, 
had  but  too  naturally  seconded  the  growing 
depravity. 


The  Character  of  Socrates 


The  youth  of  great  men  is  seldom  marked  by 
any  peculiarities  which  arrest  observation.  Their 
minds  have  secret  workings ;  and,  though  they 
feel  and  enjoy  the  consciousness  of  genius,  they 
seldom  betray  prognostics  of  greatness.  Many 
who  were  cradled  by  misfortune  and  want  have 
reproached  the  sun  as  he  rose  and  went  down, 
for  amidst  the  baseness  of  circumstances  their 
large  minds  were  unsatisfied,  unfed ;  many  have 
bowed  lowly  to  those  whose  names  their  own 
were  destined  to  outlive  ;  many  have  gone  down 
to  their  graves  in  obscurity,  for  fortune  withheld 
them  from  eminence,  and  to  beg  they  were 
ashamed. 

Of  the  son  of  the  sculptor  and  midwife  we 
only  know  that  he  became  eminent  as  a  sculptor, 
but  displaying  genius  for  higher  pursuits,  Crito, 
who  afterward  became  his  disciple,  procured  for 
him  admission  to  the  schools  and  to  such  educa 
tion  as  the  times  furnished.  But  the  rudiments 
of  his  character  and  his  homely  virtues  were 
formed  in  the  workshop,  secluded  from  tempta 
tion  j  and  those  inward  operations  of  his  strong 


1 2  The  Character  of  Socrates 

mind  were  begun  which  were  afterwards  matured 
in  the  ripeness  of  life. 

We  shall  proceed  to  examine  the  character  of 
the  philosopher,  after  premising  that  we  do  not 
intend  to  give  the  detail  of  his  life,  but  shall  occa 
sionally  adduce  facts  of  biography  as  illustrative 
of  the  opinions  we  have  formed.  With  regard 
to  the  method  pursued  in  the  arrangement  of  our 
remarks,  we  must  observe  that  sketches  of  the 
character  of  an  individual  can  admit  of  little 
definiteness  of  plan,  but  we  shall  direct  our  atten 
tion  to  a  consideration  of  the  leading  features  of 
his  mind,  and  to  a  few  of  his  moral  excellences 
which  went  to  make  up  the  great  aggregate  of 
his  character. 

The  chief  advantage  which  he  owed  to  nature, 
the  source  of  his  philosophy  and  the  foundation 
of  his  character,  was  a  large  share  of  plain  good 
sense,  —  a  shrewdness  which  would  not  suffer 
itself  to  be  duped,  and  withal,  concealed  under 
a  semblance  of  the  frankest  simplicity,  which 
beguiled  the  objects  of  his  pursuit  into  conversa 
tion  and  confidence  which  met  his  wishes.  This 


The  Character  of  Socrates  13 

was  the  faculty  which  enabled  him  to  investigate 
his  own  character,  to  learn  the  natural  tendency 
and  bias  of  his  own  genius,  and  thus  to  perfectly 
control  his  mental  energies. 

There  is  a  story  of  Socrates,  related  by  Cicero, 
which  militates  somewhat  with  the  opinion  we 
have  formed  of  his  mind,  —  that  when  a  physi 
ognomist,  after  having  examined  his  features, 
had  pronounced  him  a  man  of  bad  passions  and 
depraved  character,  Socrates  reproved  the  indig 
nation  of  his  disciples  by  acknowledging  the 
truth  of  the  assertion  so  far  as  nature  was  con 
cerned,  saying  that  it  had  been  the  object  of  his 
life  to  eradicate  these  violent  passions.  This 
might  have  been  merely  a  trick  of  art,  and  as 
such  is  consistent  with  his  character.  We  can 
not  view  it  in  any  other  light ;  for  although  it  is 
very  probable  that  natural  malignity  might  have 
darkened  his  early  life,  yet  no  assertion  of  his 
own  would  convince  us,  in  contradiction  with 
his  whole  life  and  instruction,  that  he  was  ever 
subject  to  the  fiercer  passions.  Such,  too,  was 
the  order  of  his  intellect.  He  was  a  man  of 


14  The  Character  of  Socrates 

strong  and  vivid  conceptions,  but  utterly  desti 
tute  of  fancy.  Still,  he  possessed  originality  and 
sometimes  sublimity  of  thought.  His  powerful 
mind  had  surmounted  the  unavoidable  errors  of 
education,  and  had  retained  those  acquirements 
which  are  found  applicable  to  the  uses  of  com 
mon  life,  whilst  he  had  discarded  whatever  was 
absurd  or  unprofitable. 

He  studied  the  nature  and  explored  the  des 
tinies  of  men  with  a  chastised  enthusiasm.  Not 
withstanding  the  sober,  dispassionate  turn  of 
mind  which  we  have  mentioned,  he  is  not  un 
moved  at  all  times ;  when  he  enters  into  the 
discussion  upon  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and 
the  nature  and  attributes  of  Deity,  he  forgets  his 
quibbles  upon  terms,  and  his  celebrated  irony, 
and  sensibly  warms  and  expands  with  his  theme. 
This  was  aided  by  the  constant  activity  of  his 
mind,  which  endowed  him  with  energy  of  thought 
and  language,  and  its  discipline  never  suffered 
him  to  obtrude  an  unguarded  emotion. 

In  perfect  accordance  with  this  view  of  his 
mind  is  his  conduct  under  circumstances  related 


The  Character  of  Socrates  15 

by  Plato.  In  prison,  whilst  under  condemnation, 
he  was  directed  in  vision  to  seek  the  favor  of  the 
Muses.  This  new  discipline  enjoined  upon  him 
was  utterly  incongruous  with  the  temper  and 
habits  of  feeling  usual  to  the  philosopher.  His 
plain  sense  and  logical  mind,  which  would  reduce 
everything,  however  impressive,  to  mathematical 
measurement,  were  little  conversant,  we  may  sup 
pose,  with  poetical  visions.  In  fact,  we  could 
not  suppose  a  character  more  diametrically  oppo 
site  to  the  soul  of  the  poet,  in  all  the  gradations 
of  cultivated  mind,  than  the  soul  of  Socrates. 
The  food  "and  occupation  of  the  former  has 
to  do  with  golden  dreams,  —  airy  nothings, 
bright  personifications  of  glory  and  joy  and  evil, 
—  and  we  imagine  him  sitting  apart,  like  Brahma, 
moulding  magnificent  forms,  clothing  them  with 
beauty  and  grandeur.  The  latter  dwells  on 
earth,  dealing  plainly  and  bluntly  with  men  and 
men's  actions,  instructing  them  what  to  do  and 
to  forbear ;  and  even  when  he  desires  to  lift  his 
tone,  it  is  only  to  mingle  with  higher  reality,  but 
never  forsaking  safe,but  tedious,  paths  of  certainty. 


1 6  The  Character  of  Socrates 

All  this  we  know,  and  the  manner  which  Soc 
rates  selected  to  perform  the  task  assigned  him 
creates  neither  disappointment  nor  surprise ;  for 
perhaps  in  the  biographical  annals  of  his  country 
there  was  no  intellect  whose  leading  feature  more 
nearly  resembled  his  own  than  ^Esop,  whose 
fables  he  undertook  to  versify. 

It  may  well  be  supposed  that  a  mind  thus  cast 
was  eminently  calculated  to  instruct,  and  his 
didactic  disposition  always  rendered  him  rather 
the  teacher  than  the  companion  of  his  friends. 
Add  to  all  this  an  unrivalled  keenness  of  pene 
tration  into  the  character  of  others,  and  hence 
arose  his  ruling  motive  in  all  his  intercourse  with 
men  ;  it  was  not  to  impart  literary  knowledge  or 
information  in  science  or  art,  but  to  lay  open  to 
his  own  view  the  human  mind,  and  all  its  unac 
knowledged  propensities,  its  weak  and  fortified 
positions,  and  the  springs  of  human  action.  All 
this  was  achieved  by  the  power  of  his  art,  and  it 
enabled  him  easily  to  grasp  the  mind,  and  mould 
it  at  will,  and  to  unite  and  direct  the  wandering 
energies  of  the  human  soul. 


The   Character  of  Socrates  17 

His  mind  was  cultivated,  though  his  learning 
was  little.  He  was  acquainted  with  the  works 
of  the  most  eminent  poets  of  his  country,  but  as 
he  seems  never  to  have  made  literature  his  study, 
the  limited  erudition  he  possessed  was  probably 
gleaned  from  the  declamations  of  the  sophists, 
whose  pride  never  scrupled  to  borrow  abundantly 
from  the  superfluous  light  which  departed  genius 
afforded.  His  own  acquisitions  had  been  made 
in  the  workshops  of  the  Athenian  artisans,  in  the 
society  of  Aspasia  and  Theombrota,  and  by  in 
telligent,  experienced  observation. 

Though  living  in  Athens,  he  acquired  little 
taste  for  the  elegance  or  pride  of  life ;  surrounded 
as  he  was  by  the  living  marbles  which  all  suc 
ceeding  ages  have  consented  to  admire,  and  then 
just  breathing  from  the  hand  of  the  artist,  he 
appeared  utterly  dead  to  their  beauties,  and  used 
them  only  as  casual  illustrations  of  an  argu 
ment.  In  the  gratification  of  his  desire  to  learn 
and  know  mankind,  he  visited  the  poor  and  the 
rich,  the  virtuous  and  the  degraded,  and  set  him 
self  to  explore  all  the  varieties  of  circumstances 


1  8  The  Character  of  Socrates 

occurring  in  a  great  city,  that  he  might  discover 
what  were  "the  elements  which  furnish  forth 
creation." 

We  may  judge  from  the  acquaintances  of  the 
philosopher  what  were  the  minds  most  congenial 
to  his  own.  Of  his  great  contemporaries,  — 
Sophocles,  Euripides,  Aristophanes,  —  Euripides 
alone  was  his  pupil  and  friend.  He  never  at 
tended  the  theatre  only  as  his  tragedies  were  to 
be  performed.  This  warmth  of  feeling  for  the 
chaste  and  tender  dramatist  should  defend  his 
mind  from  the  imputation  of  utter  deafness  to 
taste  and  beauty.  The  majestic  and  sublime 
genius  of  Sophocles  was  not  so  intimately  allied 
to  the  every-day  morals  of  Socrates  ;  Euripides 
knew  and  taught  more  human  nature  in  its  com 
mon  aspects.  The  oracle  of  Delphos  justified 
his  choice  in  that  remarkable  declaration  : 


Bptavre  iravr&v, 

The  fathers,  with  their  usual  grudge  against 
the  heathen  oracles,  formed  singular  opinions 
respecting  this  extraordinary  decree.  "  The 


The  Character  of  Socrates  19 

great  Origen  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  Devil, 
when  he  delivered  that  sentence,  by  giving  Soc 
rates  those  partners  purposely  obscured  his  glory, 
whilst  he  was  in  some  measure  forced  to  applaud 
it." 

We  have  attempted  to  draw  the  outline  of  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  minds  which  human 
history  has  recorded,  and  which  was  rendered 
extraordinary  by  its  wonderful  adaptation  to  the 
times  in  which  he  lived.  We  must  now  hasten 
to  our  great  task  of  developing  the  moral  superi 
ority  of  the  philosopher. 

A  manly  philosophy  has  named  fortitude, 
temperance,  and  prudence  its  prime  virtues.  All 
belonged,  in  a  high  degree  of  perfection,  to  the 
son  of  Sophroniscus,  but  fortitude  more  particu 
larly.  Perhaps  it  was  not  a  natural  virtue,  but 
the  first-fruits  of  his  philosophy.  A  mind  whose 
constitution  was  built  up  like  his  —  the  will  of 
the  philosopher  moulding  the  roughest  materials 
into  form  and  order  —  might  create  its  own 
virtues,  and  set  them  in  array  to  compose  the 
aggregate  of  character.  He  was  not  like  other 


2o  The  Character  of  Socrates 

men,  the  sport  of  circumstances,  but  by  the  per 
severing  habits  of  forbearance  and  self-denial 
he  had  acquired  that  control  over  his  whole  being 
which  enabled  him  to  hold  the  same  even, 
unchangeable  temperament  in  all  the  extremes  of 
his  fortunes.  This  exemption  from  the  influ 
ences  of  circumstances  in  the  moral  world  is 
almost  like  exemption  from  the  law  of  gravita 
tion  in  the  natural  economy.  The  exemplifica 
tions  of  this  fortitude  are  familiar.  When  all 
the  judges  of  the  senate,  betraying  an  unworthy 
pusillanimity,  gave  way  to  an  iniquitous  demand 
of  the  populace,  Socrates  alone  disdained  to  sac 
rifice  justice  to  the  fear  of  the  people. 

On  another  occasion,  in  the  forefront  of  a 
broken  battle,  Alcibiades  owed  his  life  to  the  firm 
ness  of  his  master.  Patriotic  steadfastness  in 
resistance  to  the  oppression  of  the  Thirty  Tyrants 
is  recorded  to  his  honor.  Although  we  are  un 
willing  to  multiply  these  familiar  instances,  we 
would  not  be  supposed  to  undervalue  that  milder 
fortitude  which  Diogenes  Laertius  has  lauded, 
and  which  clouded  his  domestic  joys.  The  vie- 


The  Character  of  Socrates  21 

tory  over  human  habits  and  passions  which  shall 
bring  them  into  such  subjection  as  to  be  sub 
servient  to  the  real  advantage  of  the  possessor 
is  that  necessary  virtue  which  philosophers  de 
nominate  temperance.  We  are  led  to  speak  of 
this  particularly  because  its  existence  in  the  char 
acter  of  Socrates  has  been  questioned. 

The  impurity  of  public  morals  and  the  preva 
lence  of  a  debasing  vice  has  left  a  festering 
reproach  on  the  name  of  Athens,  which  deepens 
as  the  manners  of  civilized  nations  have  altered 
and  improved.  Certain  equivocal  expressions 
and  paragraphs  in  the  Dialogues  of  Plato  have 
formerly  led  many  to  fasten  the  stigma  on  Soc 
rates.  This  abomination  has  likewise  been  laid 
to  the  charge  of  Virgil,  and  probably  with  as  little 
justice.  Socrates  taught  that  every  soul  was  an 
eternal,  immutable  form  of  beauty  in  the  divine 
mind,  and  that  the  most  beautiful  mortals  ap 
proached  nearest  to  that  celestial  mould ;  that  it 
was  the  honor  and  delight  of  human  intellect  to 
contemplate  this  beau  ideal,  and  that  this  was 
better  done  through  the  medium  of  earthly  per- 


2  z  The   Character  of  Socrates 

fection.  For  this  reason  this  sober  enthusiast 
associated  with  such  companions  as  Alcibiades, 
Critias,  and  other  beautiful  Athenians. 

A  late  article  in  the  Quarterly  Review,  the 
better  to  vindicate  the  character  of  Aristophanes 
from  the  reproach  attached  to  him  as  the  author 
of  u  The  Clouds,"  has  taken  some  pains  to  attack 
the  unfortunate  butt  of  the  comedian's  buffoon 
ery.  It  is  unpleasant  at  this  day  to  find  facts 
misrepresented  in  order  to  conform  to  a  system, 
and  unwarranted  insinuations  wantonly  thrown 
out  to  vilify  the  most  pure  philosopher  of  an 
tiquity,  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  add  the 
interest  of  novelty  to  a  transient  publication.  It 
is  a  strong,  and  one  would  think  an  unanswer 
able,  argument  against  the  allegation,  that  his 
unsparing  calumniator,  the  bitter  Aristophanes, 
should  have  utterly  omitted  this  grand  reproach, 
while  he  wearies  his  sarcasm  on  more  insignifi 
cant  follies.  Nor  did  he  pass  it  by  because  it 
was  not  accounted  a  crime,  as  if  the  fashion 
of  the  age  justifies  the  enormity ;  for  in  this 
identical  play  he  introduces  his  Just  Orator, 


The   Character  of  Socrates  23 

declaiming  against  this  vice  in  particular  and 
remembering  with  regret  the  better  manners  of 
better  times,  when  lascivious  gestures  were  un 
studied  and  avoided  and  the  cultivated  strength 
of  manhood  was  devoted  to  austere,  laborious 
virtue.  The  whole  character  and  public  instruc 
tions  of  Socrates  ought  to  have  shielded  him  from 
this  imputation,  while  they  manifest  its  utter 
improbability.  When  the  malignity  of  an  early 
historian  had  given  birth  to  the  suspicion,  the 
fathers,  who  often  bore  no  good-will  to  Socrates 
(whose  acquired  greatness  eclipsed  their  natural 
parts),  often  employed  their  pens  to  confirm  and 
diffuse  it,  and  it  owes  its  old  currency  chiefly  to 
their  exertions. 

We  shall  not  speak  particularly  of  the  prudence 
of  Socrates.  He  possessed  it  abundantly,  in  the 
philosophical  signification  of  the  term,  —  but 
none  of  that  timorous  caution  which  might  inter 
fere  with  the  impulses  of  patriotism,  duty,  or 
courage. 

It  seems  to  have  been  a  grand  aim  of  his  life 
to  become  a  patriot,  —  a  reformer  of  the  abuses 


24  The    Character  of  Socrates 

of  morals  and  virtue  which  had  become  a  national 
calamity.  He  saw  his  country  embarrassed,  and 
plunging  without  help  in  the  abyss  of  moral 
degradation.  Dissipation  and  excess  made 
Athens  their  home  and  revelled  with  impunity. 
"  Give  us  a  song  of  Anacreon  or  Alcaeus  !  "  was 
the  common  cry.  A  frightful  voluptuousness 
had  entwined  itself  about  the  devoted  city,  and 
its  ultimate  baneful  consequences  had  begun 
their  work.  In  these  circumstances,  when  all 
eyes  appeared  to  be  blinded  to  the  jeopardy  by 
the  fatal  incantations  of  vagrant  vine-clad  Muses, 
this  high-toned  moralist  saw  the  havoc  that  was 
in  operation.  He  desired  to  restore  his  country 
men  ;  he  would  not  treacherously  descend  to 
flatter  them. 

To  accomplish  this,  he  selected  a  different 
course  from  the  ordinary  plans  of  young  men. 
To  an  Athenian  entering  on  life  and  aspiring 
after  eminence,  the  inducements  to  virtue  were 
weak  and  few,  but  to  vice  numberless  and  strong. 
Popularity  was  to  be  acquired  among  these  de 
generate  republicans ;  not  as  formerly  among 


The   Character  of  Socrates  25 

their  great  ancestors,  by  toilsome  struggles  for 
pre-eminence  in  purity,  by  discipline  and  austere 
virtue,  but  by  squandered  wealth,  profligacy,  and 
flattery  of  the  corrupt  populace.  \Vhat,  then, 
had  an  obscure  young  man,  poor  and  friendless, 
to  expect,  sternly  binding  himself  to  virtue,  and 
attacking  the  prevalent  vices  and  prejudices  of  a 
great  nation  ?  This  was  certainly  no  unworthy 
prototype  of  the  circumstances  of  the  founders 
of  the  Christian  religion.  He  devoted  himself 
entirely  to  the  instruction  of  the  young,  aston 
ishing  them  with  a  strange  system  of  doctrines 
which  inculcated  the  love  of  poverty,  the  for 
giveness  of  injuries,  with  other  virtues  equally 
unknown  and  unpractised. 

His  philosophy  was  a  source  of  good  sense 
and  of  sublime  and  practical  morality.  He  directs 
his  disciples  to  know  and  practise  the  purest 
principles  of  virtue ;  to  be  upright,  benevolent, 
and  brave;  to  shun  vice,  —  TO  Oi)p£ov^  —  the 
dreadful  monster  which  was  roaring  through 
earth  for  his  prey.  The  motives  which  he  pre 
sented  for  their  encouragement  were  as  pure  as 


26  The   Character  of  Socrates 

the  life  they  recommended.  Such  inducements 
were  held  up  as  advancement  in  the  gradations 
of  moral  and  intellectual  perfection,  —  the  proud 
delight  of  becoming  more  acceptable  in  the  eye 
of  Divinity,  and  the  promise  to  virtue  of  com 
munications  from  other  and  higher  spheres  of 
existence.  The  notions  of  the  nature  of  God 
which  Socrates  entertained  were  infinitely  more 
correct  and  adequate  than  those  of  any  other 
philosopher  before  him  whose  opinions  have 
come  down  to  us. 

Additional  praise  is  due  to  him,  since  he  alone 
dared  to  express  his  sentiments  on  the  subject 
and  his  infidelity  to  the  popular  religion.  "  What 
is  God  ? "  said  the  disciples  to  Plato.  "  It  is 
hard,"  answered  the  philosopher,  "  to  know,  and 
impossible  to  divulge."  Here  is  that  reluctance 
which  timorous  believers  were  obliged  to  display. 
"  What  is  God  ?  "  said  they  to  Socrates,  and 
he  replied,  "  The  great  God  himself,  who  has 
formed  the  universe  and  sustains  the  stupendous 
work  whose  every  part  is  finished  with  the  ut 
most  goodness  and  harmony  j  he  who  preserves 


The   Character  of  Socrates  27 

them  perfect  in  immortal  vigor  and  causes  them 
to  obey  him  with  unfailing  punctuality  and  a 
rapidity  not  to  be  followed  by  the  imagination  — 
this  God  makes  himself  sufficiently  visible  by  the 
endless  wonders  of  which  he  is  the  author,  but 
continues  always  invisible  in  himself."  This  is 
explicit  and  noble.  He  continues,  "  Let  us  not, 
then,  refuse  to  believe  even  what  we  do  not 
behold,  and  let  us  supply  the  defect  of  our 
corporeal  eyes  by  using  those  of  the  soul ;  but 
especially  let  us  learn  to  render  the  just  homage 
of  respect  and  veneration  to  that  Divinity  whose 
will  it  seems  to  be  that  we  should  have  no  other 
perception  of  him  but  by  his  effects  in  our  favor. 
Now  this  adoration,  this  homage,  consists  in 
pleasing  him,  and  we  can  only  please  him  by 
doing  his  will." 

These  are  the  exalted  sentiments  and  motives 
which  Socrates  enforced  upon  men,  not  in  insu 
lated  or  extraordinary  portions  of  his  system  but 
through  the  whole  compass  of  his  instructions. 
Convinced  that  the  soul  is  endowed  with  energies 
and  powers,  by  which,  if  well  directed,  she  strives 


28  The  Character  of  Socrates 

and  climbs  continually  towards  perfection,  it  was 
his  object  to  stimulate  and  guide  her ;  to  quicken 
her  aspirations  with  new  motives,  to  discover 
and  apply  whatever  might  spur  on  conscientious 
endeavor  or  back  its  efforts  with  omnipotent 
strength.  He  wished  the  care  and  improvement 
of  the  soul  to  be  of  chief  concern,  that  of  the 
body  comparatively  trifling.  The  natural  effect 
of  his  philosophy  was  to  form  an  accomplished 
pagan,  —  so  perfect  a  man  as  was  compatible 
with  the  state  of  society ;  and  this  state  should  not 
be  underrated.  A  nation  of  disciples  of  Socrates 
would  suppose  a  state  of  human  advancement 
which  modern  ambition  and  zeal,  with  all  its 
superiority  of  knowledge  and  religion,  might 
never  hope  to  attain.  And,  could  Athens  have 
expelled  her  sophists  and  corruptors,  and  by  ex 
hibiting  respect  for  his  instructions  have  extended 
the  influence  of  her  most  mighty  mind  until  the 
chastity  of  her  manners  was  restored  and  the 
infirmities  of  her  dotage  displaced  by  active  vir 
tues, —  had  her  citizens  then  become  the  converts 
and  advocates  of  Socratic  sentiments, —  she  might 


The  Character  of  Socrates  29 

have  flourished  and  triumphed  on  till  this  day,  a 
free  and  admirable  commonwealth  of  philoso 
phers,  and  looked  with  enviable  unconcern  on 
all  the  revolutions  about  her  that  have  agitated 
and  swallowed  up  nations ;  and  Philip  of  Mace- 
don  and  Mummius  of  Rome  might  have  slept  in 
obscurity.  But  this  is  digression,  and  we  can 
offer  no  apology  except  the  pleasure  which  such 
a  vision  affords.  We  must  now  proceed  to  say 
something  of  his  ambiguous  genius. 

The  Satftmv  of  Socrates  partakes  so  much 
of  the  marvellous  that  there  is  no  cause  for 
wonder  arising  from  the  difference  of  opinion 
manifested  in  its  discussion.  Those  who  love 
to  ascribe  the  most  to  inspiration  in  the  prophets 
of  God's  revealed  religion  claim  this  mysterious 
personage  as  akin  to  the  ministering  spirits  of 
the  Hebrew  faith.  Those  who,  with  Xenophon, 
know  not  of  this  similarity,  or  who  do  not  find 
foundation  for  this  belief,  look  upon  the  SaifAcov 
only  as  a  personification  of  natural  sagacity ; 
some  have  charitably  supposed  that  the  philoso 
pher  himself  was  deluded  into  a  false  conviction 


30  The   Character  of  Socrates 

that  he  enjoyed  a  peculiar  communication  with 
the  gods  by  the  intervention  of  a  supernatural 
being, — learned  their  will  and  accomplished  their 
ends.  These  supposed  claims  which  Socrates 
laid  to  divine  inspiration  have  induced  many  to 
carry  their  veneration  to  a  more  marvellous 
extent  than  we  can  safely  follow. 

We  are  willing  to  allow  that  they  have 
plausible  arguments  who  have  considered  the 
philosopher  in  the  more  imposing  view,  as  an 
especial  light  of  the  world  commissioned  from 
heaven  and  as  a  distant  forerunner  of  the  Saviour 
himself.  Dr.  Priestley,  with  a  bolder  hand,  has 
instituted  a  comparison  between  Socrates  and 
the  Saviour  himself.  We  are  not  disposed  to 
enter  upon  these  discussions,  as  they  do  not  lead 
to  truth  and  serve  only  to  bewilder.  It  is  prob 
able  that  the  philosopher  adopted  the  successful 
artifice  of  Lycurgus,  referring  his  instructions  to 
higher  agents  in  order  to  enforce  their  obedi 
ence.  With  regard  to  the  innocence  of  the 
artifice,  although  perhaps  no  philosopher  has  a 
sincerer  reverence  for  truth,  yet  the  doctrine 


The  Character  of  Socrates  31 

was  but  too  common  at  that  time  that  they 
were  free  to  promulgate  useful  falsehoods ;  and 
if  he  imagined  that  the  necessity  of  the  case 
might  acquit  Lycurgus,  certainly  a  falsehood  of 
a  more  heinous  nature  would  at  present  have 
been  justifiable. 

The  death  of  this  illustrious  man  has  chiefly 
entitled  him  to  the  veneration  of  mankind.  The 
mild  magnanimity  which  could  forgive  and  justify 
its  unjust  oppressors ;  the  benevolence  which 
forgot  self  and  its  pains  and  necessities  in  the 
ardor  of  instructing  others  ;  the  grandeur  of  soul 
which  disdained  self-preservation  purchased  at 
the  expense  of  inflexible  principle ;  the  courage 
which  stooped  not  in  extremity  —  these  are  vir 
tues  which  the  human  understanding  always 
must  approve,  and  which  compel  admiration. 
We  have  heard  much  of  triumphant  and  honor 
able  deaths  at  the  stake  —  or  by  sudden  violence, 
or  from  natural  causes  —  of  men  who  have  died 
in  martyrdom  for  liberty,  religion,  or  love  ;  these 
are  glorious  indeed  and  excellent.  But  without 
taking  into  consideration  the  allowance  to  be 


32  The   Character  of  Socrates 

made  for  exaggeration  and  the  love  of  the  marvel 
lous,  we  should  attribute  much  to  the  influence 
of  despair.  An  enthusiast  is  hurried  suddenly 
from  family  and  friendship  and  all  the  atmosphere 
of  social  life  —  his  joys  and  hopes  and  habits  — 
to  the  place  of  torture  and  execution,  to  pay  the 
penalty  of  adherence  to  a  tenet.  The  quick  and 
fearful  change  of  circumstances  bewilders  and 
overwhelms  a  mind  easily  affected  by  things  ex 
ternal.  Morbid  sensibility  takes  the  place  of 
sanity  of  mind,  and,  but  partially  conscious  of 
his  conduct,  he  mechanically  repeats  the  language 
strongly  written  on  his  memory ;  and  it  follows 
that  the  ignorant  mistake  his  imbecility  for  fear 
lessness,  and  his  insensibility  for  blissful  antici 
pation  of  approaching  glory.  Such  cases  are  by 
no  means  improbable,  and  a  strict  scrutiny  of 
miraculous  last  words  and  dying  speeches  will 
find  them.  But  in  the  sacrifice  of  Socrates  there 
is  no  shadow  of  a  doubt  on  which  incredulity 
might  attach  itself.  The  firmness  and  uncon 
cern  with  which  he  regards  the  approach  of  death 
are  truly  astonishing ;  there  does  not  appear  to 


The  Character  of  Socrates  33 

have  been  the  slightest  accession  of  excitement, 
not  the  alteration  of  a  degree  in  his  mental  tem 
perature.  He  met  his  agitated  friends  with  the 
usual  calm  discourse  and  deliberate  reasoning. 
He  spoke  upon  the  subject,  it  is  true,  when  they 
frequently  introduced  it,  but  willingly  acquiesced 
in  the  ordinations  of  superior  intelligence,  and 
employed  his  reason  to  unveil  the  sublime  pur 
poses  of  Providence. 

A  fortunate  superstition  of  the  Athenians  fur 
nished  him  with  the  opportunity  of  manifesting 
the  sincerity  and  greatness  of  his  philosophy,  as 
the  length  of  time  between  his  condemnation 
and  death  enabled  him  to  hold  frequent  inter 
course  with  his  disciples.  Human  sincerity  has 
seldom  passed  a  severer  ordeal  than  did  the  prin 
ciples  of  Socrates.  Notwithstanding  the  minute 
accuracy  with  which  his  every  action  has  been 
detailed,  we  know  not  that  the  fortitude  of  which 
we  have  spoken  ever  abandoned  him  to  a  mo 
ment's  melancholy.  We  behold  him  upbraid 
ing  the  pusillanimity,  or  soothing  the  sorrows,  of 
those  friends  whose  office  it  should  have  been, 


34  The  Character  of  Socrates 

in  the  ordinary  course  of  circumstances,  to  alle 
viate  his  own  dying  agonies.  The  dignity  and 
grandeur  of  soul,  everywhere  predominant,  is 
sustained  to  the  conclusion  of  the  great  tragedy, 
till  we  are  irresistibly  led  to  bestow  upon  the 
pagan  the  praise  of  a  perfect  man. 

It  is  melancholy  to  turn  from  this  heroic  event, 
this  mighty  giving-up  of  the  ghost,  to  the  dark 
history  of  the  causes  and  agents  of  so  foul  a  mur 
der.  We  should  avoid  all  recurrence  to  it,  and 
save  mankind  the  shock  and  blush  of  recollection, 
did  not  we  think  that  some  palliation  might 
be  pleaded  to  soften  this  black  disgrace  on  a 
name  we  so  much  love  to  venerate  as  that  of 
Athens. 

When  the  philosopher  began  life  there  was 
a  freshness  of  glory  diffused  over  his  country 
which  no  after  times  equalled.  There  had  been 
magnificent  success  in  arms  and  arts,  and 
achievements  which  overshadowed  the  great 
names  of  their  own  romance, —  Hercules  and 
Theseus  and  Achilles.  These  stupendous  suc 
cesses,  to  which  modern  history  does  not  pre- 


The  Character  of  Socrates  35 

tend  to  offer  a  parallel,  had  become  familiar  to 
them,  and  led  them  to  that  independence  of 
character  the  ultimate  effect  of  which  was  that 
caprice  which  distinguished  the  people  of  Athens. 
It  was  natural,  further  beholding  the  full  dis 
play  of  their  might,  which  had  been  thus  glori 
ously  exhibited,  that  these  republicans  should 
acquire  confidence  in  themselves,  a  fearlessness 
of  contending  interests  about  them,  and  of  the 
consequences  of  their  own  actions,  which  was 
imparted  from  the  political  community  as  a 
whole  to  each  separate  state,  and  from  the  state 
to  each  individual.  Such  countrymen  had  the 
youthful  Socrates.  But  he  lived  to  see  them 
degenerate,  and  crouch  to  the  despotism  of  the 
Thirty ;  to  submit  to  defeat  abroad,  and  to  fac 
tion  at  home.  All  this,  however,  had  little 
effect  on  that  caprice  whose  cause  we»  have 
mentioned.  When  the  anarchy  of  the  Thirty 
Tyrants  was  over,  the  impatience  with  which  the 
people  remembered  their  own  submission  only 
increased  the  action  of  their  caprice ;  nor  is  it 
extraordinary  if  an  overflowing  zeal  to  approve 


36  The   Character  of  Socrates 

themselves  freemen  should  have  made  judgment 
hasty. 

We  should  rejoice  if  the  death  of  Socrates 
were  referable  merely  to  this  impetuous  spirit  of 
liberty ;  but  it  belongs  chiefly  to  that  general 
debasement  of  morals  which  it  was  the  passion 
of  Socrates  to  attack  and  reprehend.  Their 
progress  is  sufficiently  marked  by  the  successive 
characters  of  the  comedy,  from  its  primal  inno 
cence  to  its  third  stage,  when  that  grossness 
became  fashionable  which  stains  the  dramas  of 
Aristophanes. 

But  not  only  their  anger  at  the  man  who 
reproached  them  with  their  vices  induced  them 
to  offer  violence  to  him,  but  likewise  his  infi 
delity  to  the  religion  of  their  fathers,  and  intro 
duction  of  new  doctrines.  Grosser  infidelity 
than  that  for  which  Socrates  suffered,  and  which 
his  predecessors  Anaxagoras  and  Archelaus  had 
wisdom  enough  to  entertain  but  dared  not  avow, 
was  openly  proclaimed  in  the  licentious  theatre, 
and  applauded  by  the  multitude.  But  there  is 


The  Character  of  Socrates  37 

some  appearance  of  plausibility  in  the  apology 
for  that  inconsistency. 

In  the  theatre,  impiety  excited  strong  feeling, 
and  the  people's  gratitude  to  the  poet  who  could 
so  faithfully  amuse  them  would  easily  find  apol 
ogy  for  more  glaring  impropriety.  But  the  phil 
osopher  was  the  teacher  of  youth,  who  should 
do  away  with  every  improper  impression,  and 
might  not  be  allowed  to  infringe  upon  the  faith 
they  had  been  accustomed  to  venerate.  Besides, 
they  came  to  the  lectures  of  the  sage  with  dis 
passionate  minds,  and  there  was  no  purpose  of 
warm  feeling  to  be  answered  which  might  par 
don  the  introduction  of  what  they  termed  pro 
fanity.  We  must  confess  that  it  is  hard  to 
check  and  change  the  free  tide  of  an  ancient 
religion.  When  old  prejudices  which  man  en 
tertains  of  his  Maker  are  fixed ;  when  he  is 
reasoning  himself  into  a  consent  to  the  laws  of 
God  which  govern  him ;  when  he  has  incorpo 
rated  the  names  and  attributes  of  those  who 
know  and  make  his  destiny  with  all  his  views 


38  The   Character  of  Socrates 

of  existence ;  —  be  this  religion  bad  or  good, 
be  its  tendency  what  it  may,  till  he  is  con 
vinced  of  its  error  he  will  repel  with  indigna 
tion  the  power  that  came  to  rend  and  shatter 
the  whole  constitution  of  his  soul. 

The  memory  of  Socrates  was  vindicated  from 
calumny  by  the  subsequent  sorrow  of  the  Athe 
nians,  who  endeavored  to  atone  for  their  crime 
by  honors  splendid  if  unavailing.  Lysippus 
executed  the  costly  tribute  of  their  respect, 
and  the  vengeance  of  the  senate  fell  upon  the 
accusers,  in  punishment  adequate  to  their  guilt. 

Socrates  led  a  sanctimonious  life.  He  was 
abstemious,  and  his  whole  demeanor  corre 
sponded  with  the  coarseness  of  his  features  and 
the  deformity  of  his  person.  By  harsh  disci 
pline  he  endeavored  to  subdue  his  corporeal 
wants  so  far  as  to  make  them  merely  subservi 
ent  to  the  mental  advantage,  yet  never  carrying 
it  to  anything  like  that  excess  of  Indian  super 
stition  which  worships  God  by  outraging  nature. 
This  unnatural  expression  of  courage  has  been 


The  Character  of  Socrates  39 

called  an  assertion  of  the  dignity  of  man.      Hu 
man  nature  wants  no  such  champions. 

We  must  hasten  to  take  our  leave  of  the 
illustrious  Grecian.  As  the  head  of  the  Ionic 
school,  he  did  more  to  found  true  philosophy  on 
its  legitimate  basis  than  any  other  master.  When 
we  consider  how  much  this  individual  fulfilled 
of  the  great  duty  which  every  man  owes  to  his 
fellowmen, —  that  of  crowding  into  a  little  life 
the  most  extended  benefit,  and  contributing  the 
strength  of  his  soul  to  the  aggrandizement  of 
the  species, —  we  shall  acknowledge  that  few 
men  can  cope  with  him.  Lord  Bacon,  the 
foremost  of  those  few,  did  not  come  up  to  his 
irreproachable  character. 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical 
Philosophy 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical 
Philosophy 

[A  Bowdoin  Prize  Dissertation  of  1811] 

WHEN  the  present  system  of  things  began 
its  being,  and  the  eternal  relations  of  mat 
ter  were  established,  the  constitution  of  moral 
science  was  yet  to  be  founded.  It  began  with 
the  social  human  condition,  —  with  man's  first 
sense  of  duty  to  his  Maker  and  to  his  fellow- 
man.  It  has  remained  in  permanent  eternal 
principles,  designed  to  regulate  the  present  life 
and  to  conduct  the  human  race  to  their  unseen 
and  final  destinies.  Its  development  was  later : 
with  rude  and  unworthy  beginnings,  in  which 
Advancement  was  long  scarcely  perceptible  and 
always  uncertain,  and  blessed  with  no  charter  of 
exemption  from  the  difficulties  of  error.  For  a 
time  it  was  extricating  itself  from  the  conse 
quences  of  mistake,  and  improving  its  condi 
tion,  sometimes,  however,  making  a  false  step 
and  plunging  deeper  into  gulfs  of  absurdity  and 


44       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

pollution ;  but  it  has  finally  placed  itself  on 
respectable  ground  in  the  circle  of  human 
knowledge. 

It  were  a  bold  and  useless  enquiry,  and  lead 
ing  back  beyond  the  limits  of  human  informa 
tion,  certainly  claiming  the  apology  of  interest 
and  importance,  to  ask  what  surpassing  mind 
conceives  the  germ  of  moral  science,  or  how 
it  was  communicated  from  heaven  to  earth.  It 
was  the  beautiful  and  eternal  offspring  of  other 
worlds,  and  conferred  on  this  by  interposition 
which  no  discoveries  might  anticipate. 

We  shall  briefly  sketch  the  history  of  ethical 
philosophy,  and  notice  some  prominent  distinc 
tions  which  separate  ancient  from  modern  ethics, 
before  we  proceed  to  consider  the  present  state 
of  the  science. 

We  find  irregular  and  casual  hints  of  moral 
science  thrown  out  by  the  most  distinguished 
ancient  Greek  poets,  descending,  as  is  supposed, 
remotely  from  primeval  revelation.  We  know 
of  none,  however,  among  the  first  schools  of 
Grecian  philosophy,  who  set  himself  apart  for 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       45 

the  sublime  purpose  of  gathering  up  the  rela 
tions  which  bind  man  to  the  universe  about  him. 
Ethics  were  not  thus  early  separated  from  the 
immature,  misunderstood  sciences  of  logic  and 
metaphysics.  The  world  was  not  old  enough 
to  have  accurately  parcelled  and  distributed  her 
science  into  professions.  The  amassed  stores  of 
experience  were  not  then  overflowing  her  garners, 
as  now,  when  ages  of  industry  have  elapsed  to 
define  and  multiply  the  offices  of  her  stewards. 
Believing,  as  the  philosophical  ancients  appear 
to  have  done,  that  the  world  as  they  found  it  has 
forever  subsisted,  and  should  continue  to  sub 
sist,  and  that  an  inscrutable  Fate  overruled  their 
destinies,  who  might  make  them,  at  pleasure, 
demigods  or  nonentities  after  death,  they  had 
but  scanty  encouragement  for  any  grand  and 
holy  system  which  the  ardor  of  virtue  might 
induce  them  to  form.  Enthusiasm  was  chilled 
by  the  awful,  unrevealing  silence  which  pre 
vailed  over  nature,  and  the  sanctions  which  it 
supplied  were  inadequate  to  the  support  of  a 
great  religious  faith. 


46       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

Some,  astonished  at  the  lustre  and  enchant 
ment  with  which  this  visible  world  was  illu 
mined  and  renewed,  imagined  the  possibility  of  a 
more  intimate  connection  between  man  and 
nature,  and  hence  arose  the  mysteries  of  Eleu- 
sis,  and  the  doctrine  of  natural  magic.  "  The 
religion  of  Egypt,"  says  Madame  de  Stael, "  the 
system  of  emanations  of  the  Hindoo,  the  Per 
sian  adoration  of  the  elements,  are  vestiges  of 
some  curious  attraction  which  united  man  to 
the  universe."  More  fortunate  is  our  condi 
tion  ;  we  recognize,  with  scientific  delight, 
these  attractions ;  they  are  material,  still  they 
are  the  agency  of  Deity,  and  we  value  them  as 
subservient  to  the  great  relations  we  seek  and 
pant  after,  in  moral  affinities  and  intellectual 
attractions,  from  his  moral  influence.  But  the 
high  and  adventurous  ends  which  these  inter 
preters  proposed  to  themselves  were  unan 
swered  and  afterwards  perverted  in  corrupt  times. 

Others  among  the  ancients  were  fain  to  be 
lieve  the  voice  of  long  descended  tradition,  and 
awaited  the  return  of  the  departed  gods  with 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       47 

the  golden  age  of  ample  dispensations,  and 
piously  congratulated  themselves  on  the  security 
of  human  condition  under  the  protection  of 
Providence.  Others  threw  themselves  head 
long  on  the  comfortless  creed  of  the  administra 
tion  of  chance,  and  scoffed  at  the  hopes  and 
terrors  of  all,  as  distempered  dreams. 

To  this  frail  and  fleeting  order  of  beings,  per 
secuted  by  the  same  natural  obstructions  to  pos 
sible  aggrandizement,  the  progress  of  ages  has 
unfolded,  and  immediate  revelation  sanctioned, 
a  system  of  morality  so  complete  and  divine, 
and  its  promises  attended  with  presentiments  so 
rich  of  glory  hereafter,  as  to  exalt  and  assimi 
late  the  species  to  the  boldest  forms  of  ideal 
excellence. 

We  date  the  reduction  of  ethics  to  anything 
like  a  separate  system  from  the  time  of  Socrates. 

"  Socrates  videtur,  primus  ab  occultis  rebus  et  a  na- 
tura  ipsa  involutis,  in  quibus  ante  eum  philosophi  occu- 
pati  fuerunt,  philosophiam  avocavisse  et  ad  communem 
vitam  adduxisse."* 

*  Cic.  Academ.  Quaestiones. 


48       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

Others  before  him  had  been  ambitious  of  dic 
tating  laws  for  the  government  of  kings  and 
empires,  or  had  locked  up  their  results  and  con 
clusions  in  costly  manuscripts,  so  that  their  in 
fluence  upon  the  public  was  remote  and  insig 
nificant.  But  this  patriotic  philosopher  extended 
his  wisdom  to  the  body  of  the  people  in  the 
first  city  of  the  world,  and  communicated  to  his 
disciples,  not  a  hieroglyphical  scripture  to  amuse 
the  learned  and  awe  the  ignorant,  but  practical 
rules  of  life,  adapted  immediately  to  their  con 
dition  and  character,  and  little  infected  by  the 
dogmas  of  the  age.  To  the  inquisitive  he  un 
folded  his  system,  and  the  laws  and  dependen 
cies  of  morals.  The  grandeur  of  his  views 
regarding  the  Deity  far  outwent  those  of  his  con 
temporaries,  whose  malice  exposed  him  to  op 
probrium  as  a  blasphemer.  There  is  an  impor 
tant  circumstance  attached  to  Socrates,  which 
should  not  be  forgotten  in  ethical  history,  —  that 
from  him  is  derived  the  modern  custom  of 
grounding  virtue  on  a  single  principle. 

In  treating  of  things  which  are  _/«*/,  by  which 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       49 

he  meant  virtuous,  he  declares  all  things  to  be 
just  which  are  agreeable  to  the  laws.  Modern 
improvement  acknowledges  this  to  be  a  flimsy 
and  fallacious  criterion,  which  must  necessarily 
vary  under  every  different  government,  and 
which  sufficiently  indicates  the  then  imperfect 
state  of  morals. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
when  Bacon's  "  Inductive  Philosophy "  tri 
umphed  over  Aristotle,  and  the  authority  of  the 
Grecian  sage  began  to  decline,  multitudes  united 
to  accelerate  his  fall.  The  indignation  of  the  zeal 
ots  against  his  errors  went  beyond  bounds,  and 
proceeded  to  abolish  his  empire  in  those  depart 
ments  where  it  deserved  to  remain  entire.  Such 
violent  zeal  will  probably  create  a  reaction  at 
some  future  period.  The  ethics  of  Aristotle 
have  been  little  read,  and  serve  only  to  aston 
ish  the  occasional  student  with  the  comprehen 
sion  of  remark  and  the  advancement  of  knowl 
edge  which  they  contain. 

Aristotle  pursues  different  views  of  morals 
from  the  moderns,  and  exhibits  unexpected 


50       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

trains  of  ideas,  unconnected,  indeed,  by  phil 
osophical  association  ;  he  occupies  himself  long 
and  tediously  in  ascertaining  definitions  and  in 
drawing  the  boundary  lines  of  moral  and  math 
ematical  philosophy,  and  thus  manifests  the  in 
fancy  of  the  science,  but  discovers  an  intellect 
which  was  acute  to  devise  and  vast  to  compre 
hend, —  an  intellect  which  belonged  to  that 
unequalled  series  commencing  with  Socrates 
and  Plato, —  alone,  among  the  sons  of  Adam, 
qualified  to  institute  and  methodize  the  science 
of  morality. 

After  the  ages  of  Grecian  refinement,  during 
which  all  the  sciences  burst  into  premature 
perfection,  the  Stoics  exhibited  rational  and  cor 
rect  views  of  ethics.  Zeno,  and,  long  after  him, 
his  illustrious  disciples,  Epictetus,  Arrian,  and 
M.  Antoninus,  maintained  the  doctrine  of  a 
supreme  Intelligence,  of  his  universal  provi 
dence,  and  of  the  obligation  we  are  under  to 
conform  to  his  will  and  acquiesce  in  his  deci 
sions  as  necessarily  right  and  good. 

Cicero,  though  the  ornament  and  herald  of 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       51 

philosophy  in  his  age,  did  little  for  the  advance 
ment  of  its  principles.  Cicero  admired  an 
elegant  philosophy.  What  was  uncouth  or 
profound  he  polished  and  simplified ;  for  no 
man  on  earth  ever  pictured  to  himself  such 
high  classical  and  ethereal  beauty,  for  the  wor 
ship  of  imagination,  as  this  distinguished  Roman. 
Cicero  was  an  eclectic  philosopher  ;  he  entered 
the  schools  free  from  the  sourness  of  pedantry 
which  the  pride  of  philosophy  was  to  pardon 
and  hallow.  His  genius  led  him  to  explore 
theories  and  systems  with  a  sole  view  to  de 
light, —  to  seek  something  to  employ  his  insa 
tiable  imagination.  His  usefulness  to  moral 
science  is  the  same  in  kind,  though  superior  in 
degree,  to  that  of  modern  essayists  ;  his  elegant 
effusions  inspired  a  delight  to  investigate  the 
topics  of  which  they  treated,  —  a  desire  which 
twenty  centuries  have  not  abated  in  the  breast 
of  liberal  scholars. 

With  Seneca  and  Marcus  Antoninus  closes 
the  line  of  ancient  moralists,  and  with  them  the 
chief  praise  of  human  ingenuity  and  wisdom. 


52       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

Unassisted  philosophy  never  made  such  vast 
proficiency  as  at  the  time  elapsing  between  Soc 
rates  and  Antoninus.  After  this  time  the 
Christian  religion  comes  in,  supplying  the  de 
fects  and  correcting  the  errors  of  morality,  and 
establishing  on  the  whole  a  grander  system  ;  but 
human  ingenuity  alone  never  soared  so  high  as 
during  the  epoch  we  have  marked. 

From  these  philosophers,  ethics  were  deliv 
ered  down  to  the  Christian  fathers  with  all  the 
new  motives  and  sanctions  opened  by  revelation. 
With  all  their  parade  of  schools  and  disputa 
tions,  the  fathers  did  little  to  settle  the  founda 
tions  of  morals.  They  wrote  much  about  them, 
and  collected  the  crude  materials  for  others  to 
analyze.  They  endeavored  to  show  a  contra 
riety  in  the  laws  of  reason  and  revelation,  and 
to  substitute  their  expositions  of  the  one  for  the 
plain  dictates  of  the  other.  But  the  obscurity 
of  the  monastic  cell,  and  the  narrow  views 
which  were  entailed  upon  each  succession  of 
the  Roman  Priesthood,  were  unfavorable  to 
grand  apprehensions  of  moral  science.  Some 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       53 

of  them  were  sufficiently  familiar  with  Greek 
and  Roman  philosophy  to  take  up  the  subject 
on  proper  grounds,  but  it  was  beyond  the  force 
of  minds  perverted  by  bigotry  to  continue  as  it 
had  been  begun. 

The  history  of  this  hierarchy  must  always 
remain  a  phenomenon  in  the  annals  of  the 
world.  The  commissioned  apostles  of  peace 
and  religion  were  seen  arming  the  nations  of 
Europe  to  a  more  obstinate  and  pernicious  con 
test  than  had  ever  been  known ;  and  pursued 
with  fatal  hostility,  with  seven  successions  of 
bloodshed  and  horror,  till  its  dye  was  doubled 
on  the  crimson  cross.  Not  content  with  this, 
the  ambitious  popes  were  embroiled  in  perpetual 
disputes  with  their  crowned  subjects,  and  from 
every  new  contest  the  consecrated  robber  reaped 
some  new  acquisition  to  enrich  the  domain  of 
the  church. 

In  the  theory  of  this  ecclesiastical  govern 
ment,  a  different  and  graver  character  should 
naturally  have  been  expected  from  the  vicar  of 
Christ.  From  the  nature  of  the  institution, 


54       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

great  results  in  intellectual  science  might  reason 
ably  be  expected  from  the  peaceful  and  educated 
clergy.  Neither  domestic  relations  nor  labors 
to  obtain  a  livelihood  interfered  to  deter  them 
from  these  pursuits,  and  we  can  hardly  ascribe 
their  failure  to  want  of  motive.  The  difficulty 
seems  to  have  been  lodged  in  the  very  spirit 
which  pervaded  and  characterized  the  whole 
church,  that  of  choosing  darkness  rather  than 
light,  —  a  perverse  obstinacy  of  ignorance.  To 
exhibit  a  system  of  morals,  entire  and  in  all  its 
parts,  requires  a  powerful  faculty  of  generaliza 
tion,  which  is  nourished  only  where  opinion  is 
free  and  knowledge  is  valued  ;  it  requires,  also, 
an  accurate  discrimination,  accustomed  to  op 
pose  subtlety  and  sophistry  with  ambidexter  in 
genuity,  and  a  complete  emancipation  from  big 
otry,  the  besetting  sin  of  the  Roman  church. 
With  the  torch  of  revelation  in  their  hands,  we 
find  the  Christian  fathers  inculcating  the  neces 
sity  of  silly  and  degrading  penances,  the  offering 
of  whim  or  delirium,  or  bidding  the  transgressor 
repair  to  the  Holy  Land,  in  order  to  propitiate 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       55 

the  favor  of  the  Deity.  The  Hindoo  had  gone 
far  beyond  them  in  his  moral  estimates.  "  If 
thou  be  not,"  says  the  lawgiver  Menu,  "  at  va 
riance,  by  speaking  falsely,  with  Yama,  the  sub- 
duer  of  all,  with  Vaivaswata,  the  punisher,  with 
that  great  divinity  who  dwells  in  the  breast,  go 
not  on  a  pilgrimage  to  the  river  Ganga,  nor  to 
the  plains  of  Curu,  for  thou  hast  no  need  of  ex 
piation." 

By  the  rapid  advancement  of  the  collateral 
philosophy  of  the  mind  by  the  spring  imparted 
by  Bacon  and  Descartes,  ethical  speculations 
were  matured  and  improved.  It  was  useless  to 
disclose  defects  in  the  culture  of  the  moral  pow 
ers  till  the  knowledge  of  the  mental  operations 
taught  how  they  should  be  amended  and  regu 
lated. 

With  Lord  Bacon  our  remarks  have  less  con 
nection  than  with  his  less  illustrious  contempo 
raries,  for  in  contemplating  the  science  of  mor 
als  we  have  only  to  speak  of  the  classifiers  and 
theorists  who  have  analyzed,  not  the  sages  who 
have  recommended  and  applied  it.  A  sketch 


56       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

of  the  science  has  no  more  concern  with  the 
beautiful  sentiments  it  contains  or  occasions, 
than  the  nature  of  the  soil  with  the  different 
owners  through  which  its  title  had  passed. 

An  important  controversy  which  has  been 
much  agitated  among  modern  philosophers, — 
whether  benevolence  or  selfishness  be  the 
ground  of  action,  —  arose  chiefly  from  the  ma 
levolent  spirit  of  Mr.  Hobbes,  whose  shrewd 
speculations  discovered  to  society  that  all  their 
relations  were  artificial  and  grotesque  ;  and  that 
nature,  which  they  had  ignorantly  judged  to  be 
so  sublime  and  aspiring,  would  lead  them  to  the 
character  and  circumstances  of  bears  and  tigers. 

This  opinion  that  nature  tends  to  savageness 
and  stupidity  is  not  true.  For  the  impulse  to 
exertion,  which  urges  all  our  faculties  to  their 
highest  possible  degree,  is  very  powerful  and 
prompts  men  to  social  intercourse,  where  alone 
they  have  their  widest  range.  We  delight  in 
every  exertion  of  active  moral  power,  and  ex 
claim  against  every  retrograde  step,  and  against 
sloth,  the  antagonist  vice,  as  the  brother  of  ig- 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       57 

norance.  Few  men,  probably,  feel  any  inclina 
tion  to  perform  the  experiment  of  weakening  the 
magnet ;  all  prefer  to  see  its  power  accumula 
ting.  The  system  of  fanatic  philosophy  which 
in  the  course  of  time  was  the  result  of  these 
speculations  of  Mr.  Hobbes,  and  the  accursed 
fruits  of  whose  prevalence  were  abundantly 
reaped  in  France,  sweeps  away  all  the  duties 
which  we  owe  to  others ;  this  would  elevate  the 
ostrich  to  a  higher  rank  in  the  scale  of  merit 
and  wisdom  than  the  man,  old  and  honorable, 
whose  parental  affection  dictates  actions  of  wise 
and  profound  calculation. 

Dr.  Cudworth  attacked  the  system  of  Hobbes, 
in  his  "  Immutable  Morality,"  with  ability  and 
success,  and  modern  opinion  has  concurred  in  his 
boldest  positions.  The  fine  remarks  of  the  elo 
quent  Burke  may  be  extended  to  moral  nature : 
"  Nature  is  never  more  truly  herself  than  in  her 
grandest  forms ;  the  Apollo  of  Belvedere  is  as 
much  in  nature  as  any  figure  from  the  pencil  of 
Rembrandt,  or  any  clown  in  the  rustic  revels  of 
Teniers."  After  Cudworth  we  must  mention 


58       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

Dr.  Clark,  Dr.  Price,  and  Bishop  Butler ;  and 
in  naming  Reid,  Paley,  Smith,  Stewart,  we  com 
plete  the  list  of  modern  moralists. 

After  any  review  of  the  history  of  the  science 
the  question  becomes  important,  In  what  re 
spects  does  its  ancient  and  modern  history  dif 
fer  ?  The  truths  of  morality  must  in  all  ages 
be  the  same ;  the  praise  of  its  teachers  consists 
in  the  ability  manifested  in  their  development. 
A  satisfactory  development  of  these  truths  in 
morals  is  far  more  difficult  than  in  other  sci 
ences,  for  the  tenure  is  exceedingly  delicate  by 
which  faculties  imperfect  as  ours  can  long  retain 
such  objects  in  steady  view  ;  and  it  is  a  sagacious 
observation,  somewhere  made  in  the  Edinburgh 
Review,  that  our  feelings  are  never  in  their 
natural  state  when,  by  a  forced  revocation  of 
them,  we  can  attentively  study  their  aspects. 
Its  fundamental  principles  are  taught  by  the 
moral  sense,  and  no  advancement  of  time  or 
knowledge  can  improve  them. 

It  is  otherwise  in  the  sciences  which  detect 
and  measure  the  elements  of  matter ;  there, 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       59 

great  advancements  may  hereafter  be  made,  and 
what  are  now  regarded  as  profound  and  ultimate 
discoveries  may  at  a  distant  period  be  looked 
upon  as  superficial  and  elementary  speculations ; 
many,  perhaps,  of  the  golden  promises  of  alchemy 
may  be  realized,  for  we  have  not  derived  from 
nature  any  ultimate  acquaintance  with  the  con 
stitution  of  the  external  world.  But  in  morals, 
what  is  known  now  of  the  good  and  evil  pro 
pensities  of  the  heart,  and  of  the  modes  of  cor 
recting  and  regulating  them,  was  known  two 
thousand  years  ago  to  every  discerning  and  con 
templative  man,  and  Druid  speculated  with 
Druid  much  in  the  manner  that  a  modern  phi 
losopher,  with  all  his  imagined  immensity  of 
improvement,  converses  with  his  friend  on  the 
ordinary  topics  of  morality.  This  is  abundantly 
proved  by  the  circumstance  which  almost  inva 
riably  attends  promulgation  of  a  philosophic 
theory,  —  that  authors  start  up  to  prove  its 
antiquity,  and  that  it  is  the  identical  theory 
which  Pythagoras,  Plato,  or  Epicurus  pro 
pounded  before.  Pythagoras  is  supposed  to  have 


60       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

borrowed  from  the  Druids  his  imperfect  moral 
system. 

We  shall  enumerate  the  chief  points  of  dis 
tinction  in  modern  ethics.  The  most  which  has 
been  done  is  the  tracing  with  great  precision  the 
boundary  lines  of  the  systems  in  order  to  adapt 
them,  more  and  more  accurately,  to  the  known 
relations  of  truth. 

The  moderns  have  made  their  ethical  writ 
ings  of  a  more  practical  character  than  the  sages 
of  antiquity.  It  is  common  to  accuse  them  of 
having  written  on  such  subjects  as  admitted  of 
much  display,  to  have  paid  more  regard  to  the 
author  than  to  the  reader.  The  ancients  bal 
anced  the  comparative  excellence  of  two  virtues 
or  the  badness  of  two  vices  ;  they  determined  the 
question  whether  solitude  or  society  were  the 
better  condition  for  virtue.  The  moderns  have 
substituted  inquiries  of  deep  interest  for  those  of 
only  speculative  importance.  We  would  ask,  in 
passing,  what  discussion  of  Aristotle  or  Socrates 
can  compare,  in  this  respect,  with  the  train  of 
reasoning  by  which  Dr.  Price  arrives  at  the  con- 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       61 

elusion  that  every  wrong  act  is  a  step  to  all  that 
is  tremendous  in  the  universe. 

Unlike  the  arts,  science  becomes  simpler  as  it 
proceeds.  The  old  enumeration  of  the  elements 
has  been  subjected  to  scientific  analysis  until 
their  number  has  been  largely  multiplied,  and  we 
are  perhaps  still  far  removed  from  the  simplicity 
of  nature.  So  in  morals,  the  first  speculators 
were  propounders  of  theories  which  they  could 
not  explain,  perplexing  mankind  and  themselves 
with  abstruse,  ill-digested  systems.  As  it  pro 
gressed,  light  and  simplicity  began  to  be  intro 
duced  into  moral  philosophy,  but  it  was  always 
a  study  which  the  indolent  and  mere  man  of 
taste  abhorred.  The  moderns  have  struck  nearer 
the  root;  they  have  brought  in  this  simplification 
by  laying  down  maxims  in  morals  and  proposing 
to  introduce  demonstrations  from  mathematical 
analogy. 

In  the  modern  systems  of  ethical  philosophy 
the  duties  whose  performance  constitutes  virtue 
are  ranged  under  three  classes  ;  viz.,  those  whose 
regard  we  owe  to  the  Deity,  those  which  we  owe 


62       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

to  others,  and  those  which  regard  ourselves. 
Morality  founds  these  duties  on  the  will  of  the 
Creator  as  expressed  in  the  constitution  of  the 
world,  and  in  revelation.  In  ascertaining  the  will 
of  God  it  does  not  always  proceed  on  the  prin 
ciple  that  the  greatest  possible  happiness  is 
intended,  for  that  this  is  true,  we  cannot  know ; 
it  is  judged  safer  to  reason  from  adaptation  and 
analogy.  The  object  of  these  reasonings  is  to 
confirm  the  decision  of  the  moral  faculty,  which 
is  recognized  as  an  original  principle  of  our 
nature,  —  an  intuition  by  which  we  directly 
determine  the  merit  or  demerit  of  an  action.  In 
these  views  man  is  regarded  as  a  free  agent,  at 
least  to  all  the  purposes  of  which  we  have  any 
conception,  possessed  of  appetites,  desires,  and 
affections  which  he  is  to  regulate  and  control. 
The  hope  opened  to  his  aspirations  is  a  future 
life  of  retribution  to  which  all  the  energies  of 
rational  creation  look  forward,  promised  by  reve 
lation  and  confirmed  by  adaptation  and  analogy. 
Next  to  these,  philosophy  explains  the  rights 
of  man,  as,  paternal  rights,  the  rights  of  person 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       63 

and  property,  implying  the  right  of  self-defence. 
These  are  better  understood  now  than  formerly. 
Prior  to  the  precise  defining  of  the  limits  of 
obligation  and  right,  the  paternal  authority  was 
extended  by  the  laws  of  Rome  over  the  life  as 
well  as  fortunes  of  the  son,  until  the  father 
should  voluntarily  resign  it.  This  dangerous 
paternal  prerogative  could  not  be  tolerated  at  the 
present  time  in  civilized  nations.  The  wisdom 
of  experience  has  determined  that  such  an  insti 
tution  operates  to  the  mischief  of  both  ;  by  in 
vesting  the  father  with  the  power  it  tempts  him 
to  become  a  tyrant,  and  the  son  of  a  domestic 
tyrant  was  rarely  virtuous  himself.  There  are 
peculiar  traits  in  morals  of  remarkable  force, 
which  it  is  necessary  to  name. 

Moral  philosophy  recognizes  a  leveling  prin 
ciple  which  makes  void  the  distinctions  of  intel 
lect  and  the  pride  of  erudition.  It  is  fit  that 
such  a  rule  should  be  found  in  the  world,  else 
the  universe  would  present  an  aristocracy  odious 
to  God  and  man,  where  the  splendid  but  pro 
faned  gifts  of  genius  would  entitle  the  possessor 


64       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

to  the  thrones  of  angels;  where  then  should  we 
look  for  humble  energies,  though  perhaps  entirely 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  virtue.  In  the  eye  of 
Deity  the  prostitution  of  genius  annuls  the  praise 
of  its  acquisitions,  and  the  improver  of  one  tal 
ent  shall  be  amply  repaid  for  its  proper  merit. 
It  is  intended  that  genius  should  be  counter 
balanced  by  worth,  and  this  prevails  so  far  that 
perhaps  in  another  state  the  scale  which  now 
measures  greatness  may  be  entirely  reversed. 

There  is  another  distinguishing  feature  in 
morals  which  deserves  notice,  and  which  bears 
some  analogy  to  the  last, —  that  a  series  of 
humble  efforts  is  more  meritorious  than  solitary 
miracles  of  virtue.  The  former  are  unpretend 
ing  and  unnoticed,  opposing  more  obstacles  to 
pursuit  with  less  outside  honor  to  allure  imita 
tion  ;  the  latter  excite  applause,  and  as  their 
occasions  necessarily  occur  seldom,  are  of  less 
utility  to  the  general  welfare.  For  example,  the 
patience  of  an  obscure  individual  who  endures 
for  years  the  peevishness  or  fretful  disdain  of 
another,  still  preserving  his  own  susceptibility, 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       65 

and  at  the  last  feels  every  emotion  of  benevolence 
for  the  offender,  is  a  nobler  martyrdom  than 
Regulus  or  Curtius  underwent.  Or  supposing 
the  case  that  the  private  life  of  Curtius  exhibited 
the  character  we  have  described,  it  was  a  greater 
merit  thus  to  suffer  than  to  perform  his  renowned 
sacrifice.  For  the  human  mind  is  so  constituted 
as  to  expand  on  extraordinary  calls  for  sentiment 
and  strong  feeling  to  meet  the  occasion  with 
adequate  effort ;  and  this  spring  will  alone  prompt 
a  susceptible  man  to  great  sacrifices,  even  with 
out  fixed  principles  of  virtue.  Hence  all  the 
inducements  which  this  excitement  and  the  love 
of  fame  present  subtract  from  the  moral  merit ; 
and  let  any  man  ask  himself  in  moments  of  high 
excitement,  whether,  had  he  been  placed  in 
parallel  circumstances  with  the  Roman,  could  he 
have  hesitated  a  moment  to  plunge  into  the 
yawning  abyss. 

We  have  sketched  the  leading  characteristics 
of  ethical  science  as  it  is  represented  by  modern 
teachers,  —  by  Reid,  Paley,  Stewart.  But  there 
have  been  always  connected  with  this  science 


66       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

disputes  on  the  nature  of  happiness  and  of  vir 
tue.  The  ancient  sectarians,  in  their  distinctive 
moral  tenets,  only  embodied  the  ideas  which 
every  man  conversant  with  ethics  entertains  of 
happiness  in  different  moods  of  mind.  When 
his  contemplations  are  religiously  pure,  he  ac 
knowledges  the  truth  of  Socrates  and  the  Stoics, 
who  placed  felicity  in  virtue ;  when  his  mind  is 
relaxed  and  his  heart  and  taste  excited,  he  im 
agines  the  chief  good  to  reside,  as  the  Cyrenaics 
supposed,  in  pleasure,  or,  with  the  Epicureans, 
in  tranquillity  of  mind  ;  and  when  he  recollects 
these  vacillations  of  opinion,  he  unites  with  the 
doubting  Pyrrho  to  found  happiness  on  an  abso 
lute  exemption  from  scruples  and  the  confession 
that  there  is  no  constant  nature  of  good  and 
evil.  The  most  ingenious  theory  which  has 
been  proposed  to  reconcile  these  futile  specu 
lations  on  this  theme  is  Mr.  Hume's,  who,  in 
developing  his  scheme  of  excitability  and  ex 
citement,  did  not  attempt  to  prove  the  existence 
of  any  single  splendid  quality  attainable  by  the 
few  alone,  but  to  establish  a  universal  equi- 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       67 

librium  of  capacity  for  enjoyment  and  pain. 
Old  systems  indicated  some  one  external  quality 
or  affection  of  the  mind  as  happiness ;  the  pres 
ent  plan  discovered  it  in  the  condition  of  mind, 
without  regard  to  the  particular  objects  of  con 
templation.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  views 
which  dictated  this  theory,  it  certainly  discovers 
great  philosophical  sagacity. 

In  the  ardor  of  reducing  all  science  to  ulti 
mate  principles,  from  Socrates  to  Paley,  virtue 
has  shared  largely  in  these  attempts  of  philoso 
phers.  One  maintained  a  balance  among  the 
affections ;  another,  action  according  to  the  fit 
ness  of  things.  Wollaston  urges  the  truth,  and 
Goodwin  the  justice  of  things.  Dr.  Paley  at 
tempted  to  reconcile  all  on  the  principle  of  ex 
pediency.  All  understand  by  it  the  same  thing, 
—  a  conformity  to  the  law  of  conscience.  It 
is  only  a  dispute  about  words. 

Mr.  Hume  (whose  acknowledgment  of  daily 
contradiction  to  his  theory  every  one  is  prone 
to  remember)  has  attempted  to  undermine  the 
foundations  of  belief,  and  to  represent  the  eter- 


68       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

nal  truths  of  morality  as  involved  in  the  same 
gloomy  uncertainty  with  which  he  would  en 
velop  all  knowledge.  Entrenching  himself 
behind  his  system,  which  can  find  no  relation 
between  cause  and  effect,  he  wanders  on  till  he 
has  effaced  memory,  judgment,  and,  finally,  our 
own  consciousness ;  and  the  laws  of  morals 
become  idle  dreams  and  fantasies. 

This  outrage  upon  the  feelings  of  human 
nature  cannot  be  supported  by  any  dexterous 
use  of  argument.  If  this  only  be  fact,  mankind 
will  be  content  to  be  deceived ;  if  the  system 
of  morals  which  we  hold  to  be  true  be  a  dream, 
it  is  the  dream  of  a  god  reposing  in  Elysium ; 
and  who  would  desire  to  be  awaked  from  the 
sublime  deception  ?  To  this  pernicious  inge 
nuity  has  been  opposed  the  common-sense  phil 
osophy  of  which  Dr.  Reid  is  the  chief  champion, 
which  aims  at  establishing  a  code  of  propositions 
as  axioms  which  no  rational  being  will  dispute, 
and,  reasoning  from  these,  to  refute  the  vision 
ary  schemes  of  Mr.  Hume  and  Bishop  Berkeley. 
These  reasonings  as  yet  want  the  neatness  and 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       69 

conclusivcness  of  a  system,  and  have  not  been 
made  with  such  complete  success  as  to  remove 
the  terror  which  attached  to  the  name  of  Hume. 

It  has  lately  become  prevalent  to  speak  slight 
ingly  of  this  great  man,  either  lest  the  ignorant 
should  suspect  him  to  be  an  overmatch  for  the 
orthodox  philosophers,  or  in  order  to  retaliate 
upon  infidelity  that  irresistible  weapon,  a  sneer. 
Such  a  course  of  conduct  is  injudicious,  for  in 
quiry  is  not  likely  to  sleep  in  such  an  age,  on 
such  a  subject ;  and  if  there  be  formidable 
doubts  to  which  no  unanimous  solution  can  be 
formed,  it  is  more  philosophical,  as  well  as  more 
manly,  to  ascribe  to  human  short-sightedness  its 
own  necessary  defects,  for  the  end  of  all  human 
inquiry  is  confessedly  ignorance. 

The  only  way  to  determine  the  perfection  of 
the  present  state  of  ethics  is  by  examining  how 
far  they  fall  short  of  the  condition  at  which  we 
may  reasonably  expect  human  improvement  to 
arrive.  After  ages  of  separation  from  our  present 
being  we  shall  be  more  competent  to  adjust 
these  estimates.  Every  man  is  liable  to  be  mis- 


70       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

led  by  his  personal  improvement,  and  an  indi 
vidual  arrived  at  that  period  of  life  when  every 
day  discovers  a  new  set  of  ideas  is  prone  to 
mistake  the  rapid  development  of  his  own  powers 
for  an  accession  of  light  which  has  broken  upon 
the  age.  In  topics  of  this  nature  there  is  also 
danger  lest  minute  details  of  some  portions  which 
have  had  peculiar  interest  for  him  intrude  upon 
his  notice  so  as  to  occupy  a  disproportionate 
part  of  the  picture.  We  must  content  ourselves 
with  making  observations  on  the  condition  of 
society  and  its  causes  so  far  as  they  relate  to 
ethics. 

Much  has  been  done  in  the  higher  ranks  of 
modern  society  by  English  periodical  essays. 
Ranked  with  the  elegant  classics  of  the  age,  they 
have  penetrated  where  treatises  professedly  moral 
would  never  have  come.  This  is  combating 
vice  in  its  high  places  with  its  own  weapons. 
The  most  abominable  evil  becomes  seductive  by 
an  unnatural  union  with  elegance,  and  corrupt 
genius  has  accomplished  immense  mischief  by 
insinuating  that  we  abhor  what  we  admire.  It 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       71 

is  just  that  virtue  should  avail  itself  of  the  same 
advantage  and  embellish  moral  truth  with  intel 
lectual  beauty.  Here  there  is  no  disgusting 
antipathy  or  repulsion  to  be  overcome ;  they 
combine  perfectly,  and  in  their  results  we  should 
expect  from  mankind  the  creation  of  demigods. 
Very  much  has  been  claimed  for  The  Spec 
tator  in  rooting  out,  first,  the  lighter  follies  of 
fashion,  and  afterwards  invading  vice  of  a  darker 
character,  particularly  gaming  and  duelling. 
From  the  facts  adduced,  it  appears  that  the  real 
good  done  to  mankind  has  not  been  overrated, 
and  the  authors  of  the  Toiler,  Spectator,  Ram 
bler,  and  Adventurer  deserve  the  praise  which 
Socrates  and  which  Cicero  merit.  They  have 
diffused  instruction  and  inspired  a  desire  in  those 
studious  of  elegant  literature  to  inquire,  by  un 
folding  in  pleasing  forms  the  excellence  of  virtue 
and  by  taking  advantage  of  that  principle  in  our 
nature  which  induces  us  to  enjoy,  with  satisfac 
tion  and  delight,  pictures  of  finished  virtue.  They 
have  censured  the  turpitude  of  wit  and  recom 
mended  virtuous  feeling  so  artfully  that  the 


72       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

strains  could  not  displease.  "  The  good  and 
evil  of  Eternity,"  said  Johnson,  "  are  too  pon 
derous  for  the  wings  of  wit,"  —  but  it  may  sus 
tain  its  share  of  the  burden  and  prepare  the  way 
for  science  to  soar. 

From  these  causes  of  the  vast  propagation  of 
knowledge  in  the  world  is  derived  the  chief 
advantage  of  modern  ethics, —  that  they  are 
everywhere  disseminated.  It  is  only  from  very 
extensive  comedy  in  the  departments  of  litera 
ture  that  the  tone  and  character  of  prevalent 
conversation  which  belonged  to  any  period  can 
be  faithfully  transmitted.  Hence  if  we  institute 
a  comparison  between  the  ordinary  colloquial 
intercourse  of  ancient  Rome  and  Greece  on  the 
one  part  and  modern  civilized  nations  on  the 
other,  we  are  obliged  to  resort,  in  forming  our 
ideas  of  them,  to  the  influence  of  their  political 
condition,  and  to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge 
which  we  know  them  to  have  enjoyed. 

But  judged  in  these  respects,  modern  society 
will  be  found  to  outstrip  the  maturest  progress  of 
both  these  nations.  In  every  family  of  ordinary 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       73 

advantages  in  the  middle  ranks  of  life  the  great 
questions  of  morality  are  discussed  with  freedom 
and  intelligence,  introduced  as  matters  of  specu 
lation  but  as  having  foundations  of  certainty  like 
any  other  science.  In  the  lowest  orders  of  the 
people  the  occurrences  of  the  day  are  debated, 
the  prudence  or  folly  of  politicians  and  private 
conduct  examined,  and  all  with  a  reference  to 
know  the  principles  of  ethical  science.  Anciently, 
such  views  were  confined  to  small  circles  of 
philosophers.  Out  of  the  schools  they  were 
regarded  as  things  of  remote  and  partial  interest, 
much  as  we  regard  the  useless  subtleties  of  the 
schoolmen.  Now  these  discussions  are  connected 
with  the  domestic  arrangements  of  every  house 
hold  and  are  associated  with  every  recollection  of 
his  childhood  which  the  man  retains  and  acts 
upon  afterwards.  This  diffusion  of  the  knowl 
edge  accumulated  upon  these  topics,  although  it 
does  not  multiply  new  terms  of  technical  value 
nor  unfold  delicate  discoveries  to  the  subtle  meta 
physician,  is  yet  the  true  and  best  interest  of 
philosophy ;  for  it  marks  the  boundary  line  of 


74       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

truth  and  speculation,  it  settles  the  foundations 
of  the  science  to  be  in  the  opinions  of  men,  and 
thus  confers  the  only  legitimate  immortality  upon 
its  constitution  and  results. 

The  last  view  in  which  we  propose  to  consider 
our  subject  is  the  influence  of  the  present  ad 
vanced  acquaintance  with  ethics  on  political 
science.  This  influence  is  not  subtle  or  difficult 
to  be  perceived,  but  is  perfectly  plain  and  obvious. 
After  the  decline  of  the  Roman  church  the 
lower  orders  in  Europe  had  no  Indian  Brahmin 
to  tell  them  that  in  the  eternal  rounds  of  trans 
migration  their  souls  could  never  rise  above  the 
jackal ;  and  the  license  which  the  press  imme 
diately  created  tended  directly  to  enlighten  and 
emancipate  them.  Such  books  as  Machiavel's 
"  Prince,"  whether  designed  to  favor  them  or  not, 
could  not  fail  to  open  their  eyes  to  the  bondage 
under  which  they  groaned.  When  at  length 
moral  discussions,  which  before  were  strange  and 
unintelligible  to  their  ears,  began  to  be  under 
stood  and  they  comprehended  the  nature  of 
property  and  government,  things  were  in  a  train 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       75 

of  amendment,  and  popular  investigation  could 
not  be  averted.  There  could  be  little  hope  left 
to  oppressive  despotism  after  the  peasant  had 
learned  that  the  professed  object  of  the  robed  and 
reverenced  legislator  was  to  "  repress  all  those 
actions  which  tend  to  produce  more  pain  than 
pleasure,  and  to  promote  all  those  which  tend  to 
produce  more  pleasure  than  pain."  The  results 
of  this  progress  have  been  distinctly  manifested 
in  the  gradual  demolition  of  the  feudal  system,  by 
the  rise  of  the  commons  in  Europe  ;  secondly,  by 
the  full  development  of  the  science  of  Represen 
tation  ;  and  lastly,  by  the  rebellion  of  the  people 
against  the  throne,  everywhere  manifested  either 
in  dangerous  symptoms  or  in  actual  revolution. 
To  the  statesman  this  crisis  becomes  alarming; 
he  surveys  national  embarrassments  with  regard 
to  their  immediate  consequences,  and  that  con 
tinent  is  crowded  with  politicians  portending  tre 
mendous  events  about  to  ensue.  But  the  moralist 
regards  this  commotion  as  the  inevitable  effect  of 
the  progress  of  knowledge  which  might  have 
been  foreseen  almost  from  the  invention  of  print- 


76       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

ing,  and  which  must  proceed,  with  whatever 
disastrous  effects  the  crisis  is  attended,  to  the 
calm  and  secure  possession  of  equal  rights  and 
laws  which  it  was  intended  to  obtain. 

We  are  prone  to  indulge  ideas  of  the  perfect 
ibility  of  human  nature,  when  we  anticipate  the 
condition  of  future  ages,  and  attempt  to  form 
estimates  of  their  moral  greatness.  In  contem 
plating  a  science  whose  very  object  is  to  perfect 
the  nature  of  man,  imagination  oversteps  uncon 
sciously  the  limit,  to  depict  miraculous  excellence 
which  poetry  promises  and  philosophy  desires  but 
dares  not  expect.  The  first  true  advance  which 
is  made  must  go  on  in  the  school  in  which  Reid 
and  Stewart  have  labored.  Philosophers  must 
agree  in  terms  and  discover  their  own  ideas  with 
regard  to  the  moral  sense,  or,  as  others  term  it, 
the  decisions  of  the  understanding.  They  will 
perhaps  form  the  proposed  code  of  moral  maxims 
and  look  no  longer  for  many  ultimate  principles. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  make  a  moral  arithmetic,  as 
Bentham  has  done,  but  it  is  necessary  that  they 
should  persevere  in  accurate  classifications ;  and 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       77 

when  at  length  the  possessors  of  the  science  shall 
have  agreed  in  their  principles,  the  precepts  of 
acknowledged  right  must  find  their  way  into  the 
councils  of  nations. 

The  plague  spot  of  slavery  must  be  purged 
thoroughly  out  before  any  one  will  venture  to 
predict  any  great  consummation.  The  faith  of 
treaties  must  be  kept  inviolate  even  to  the  partial 
suffering  of  millions,  and  the  pandects  which 
subsist  between  all  the  civilized  nations  —  that 
sole  memorial  of  human  fellowship  —  must  be 
religiously  observed.  Abolishing  the  thousand 
capricious  policies  which  dictate  the  conduct  of 
states,  there  must  be  substituted  the  one  eternal 
policy  of  moral  rectitude.  The  establishing  of 
the  American  government  we  esteem  as  tending 
powerfully  to  these  objects,  —  a  government  into 
which  the  unclean  spirit  of  barbarous  and  unequal 
institutions  has  not  entered,  but  which  was  formed 
in  the  very  spirit  of  enlarged  knowledge  and  lib 
eral  notions.  Should  these  eras  of  perfection 
which  imagination  anticipates  arrive,  we  must 
cease  to  speculate  with  any  reference  to  the 


78       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

progress  of  science ;  if  science  can  sustain  such 
an  advancement,  it  must  terminate  here.  Ethics 
are  only  the  alphabet  of  the  perfection  of  rational 
nature ;  it  here  becomes  an  elementary  recollec 
tion,  and  useless  any  further. 

Such  is  a  sketch  of  the  progress  and  present 
condition  of  morals,  of  its  objects  and  charac 
teristic  features,  and  of  its  prospects.  Every  dis 
cussion  of  this  science  carries  with  it  this  recom 
mendation,  —  that  it  is  a  new  assertion  of  the 
highest  human  privileges ;  that,  independently 
of  the  view  which  it  opens,  we  only  begin  spec 
ulations  which  we  shall  continue  in  more  exalted 
states  of  existence.  The  interest  which  belongs 
to  other  sciences  is  partial  and  short-lived ;  the 
arts  and  physical  researches  do  not  awaken  the 
same  enthusiasm  in  the  young  enquirer  and  in 
the  man  who  lingers  on  the  limits  of  life  ;  but  the 
old  age  of  the  moralist  is  the  harvest  of  many 
studious  years,  when  he  is  gathering  in  long- 
expected  results  and  solutions,  the  fruit  of  much 
experience  and  much  solitary  thought ;  and  as 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy      79 

human  imperfections  fade  before  him,  his  eye  is 
fixed  on  richer  acquisitions. 

To  become  a  fervent  scholar  in  this  science, 
it  is  only  necessary  to  learn  its  objects  and  ten 
dencies.  Morality  is  constituted  the  rule  by 
which  the  world  must  stand.  The  laws  which 
govern  society  are  only  compends,  more  or  less 
imperfect,  of  natural  morality.  The  departure 
from  this  law  is  the  decay  of  human  glory. 
Formerly,  moral  corruption  struck  the  blow  at 
Assyrian,  Grecian,  and  Roman  magnificence,  and 
is  at  this  day  sapping  the  stability  of  European 
monarchies.  Amid  the  violent  convulsions  of 
the  political  world  produced  by  this  energetic 
principle  of  desolation,  it  is  well  to  withdraw 
ourselves  from  so  wretched  a  spectacle,  to  search 
out  the  sources  in  the  passions  of  individuals. 
It  is  ennobling  thus  to  place  ourselves  on  an 
eminence  from  whence  we  survey  at  once  the 
whole  history  of  legislation  and  refer  to  our 
knowledge  of  ethical  truth  in  judging  of  the  good 
or  bad  spirit  of  laws.  So  in  letters,  if  it  is  a 


80       The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy 

refined  study  to  examine  and  compare  the  litera 
ture  of  different  nations  and  follow  the  flight  of 
different  muses,  it  is  more  refined  to  discover  the 
reasons  why  they  give  pleasure,  to  trace  the  moral 
influence  which  created  them,  and  the  reciprocal 
influence  which  they  claimed  on  morals. 

But  its  chief  eulogy  consists  in  its  effect  on 
the  individual.  It  obliterates  the  impure  lines 
which  depravity,  error,  and  example  have  written 
upon  the  mind,  and  having  erased  these  first 
impressions,  and  abolished  crime  which  is  engen 
dered  by  them,  substitutes  sentiments  and  pre 
cepts  which  promote  the  happiness  of  man,  whose 
exercise  generates  pure  and  tranquil  enjoyment, 
and  which  the  Divine  Being  will  justify  and 
reward.  Happiness  is  incompatible  with  con 
sciousness  of  danger ;  the  sense  of  insecurity 
poisons  the  passing  delight  with  the  constant 
apprehension  of  its  loss ;  but  nothing  can  alter 
the  peace  of  mind  which  dwells,  by  a  divine 
necessity,  with  unblemished  virtue ;  it  is  perpet 
ually  advancing  towards  new  relations  of  intel 
lectual  splendor  and  moral  sublimity. 


The  Present  State  of  Ethical  Philosophy       81 

We  are  justified  in  preferring  morals  to  every 
other  science  ;  for  that  science  has  more  perma 
nent  interest  than  any  other,  which,  outliving  the 
substance  on  which  other  knowledge  is  founded, 
is  to  retain  its  relations  to  us  when  man  is 
resolved  into  spirit.  That  which  constitutes  the 
health  integrity  of  the  universe  should  be  known 
as  far  as  that  universe  extends  to  the  intelligences 
which  imbibe  and  enjoy  the  benevolence  of  its 
Author. 


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